A New Rise: Book 2: Misty Destinies
by Snowfall16
Summary: In this sequel to Misty Horizon, Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and Rainpaw begin their new lives as leaders of LeopardClan. However, when darkness strikes again, they are forced to come to a conclusion. They cannot possibly defeat the evil forces alone. The trio is left with a hard decision - one that could change the futures of every cat around the lake.
1. Allegiances and Prologue

**LeopardClan**

Leaders: Cinderpaw _light gray she-cat with blue eyes_

Sootpaw _dark gray tom with dark blue eyes_

Rainpaw _fluffy, light gray tom with blue eyes_

Medicine Cat: Stormtuft_ black tom with yellow eyes_

Apprentice: Goldenpaw

Senior Warriors: Aspentail _dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes and a missing claw_

Larkwing _pale brown tabby she-cat with dark brown eyes_

Warriors: Cherryfall _ginger she-cat with amber eyes_

Apprentice: Twigpaw

Molewhisker _brown-and-cream tom with amber eyes_

Sparrowtalon _large, brown tabby tom with yellow eyes and long fur_

Apprentice: Foxpaw

Mistheart _spiky-furred, pale gray she-cat with ice blue eyes_

Crouchfoot _ginger tom with brown eyes_

Apprentice: Rustpaw

Snowclaw _fluffy white tom with amber eyes_

Apprentice: Dawnpaw

Scorchblaze _dark ginger she-cat with green eyes_

Apprentice: Shadepaw

Streamfrost _dark gray she-cat with blue eyes and long fur_

Apprentice: Morningpaw

Foxtooth _reddish tabby tom with hazel eyes_

Rustpelt _reddish tabby tom with yellow eyes_

Apprentices: Goldenpaw _yellow-orange mottled she-cat with amber eyes_

Dawnpaw _fluffy, pale, smoky gray she-cat with brilliant, pale blue eyes_

Twigpaw _spiky-furred, brown tabby tom with yellow eyes_

Shadepaw _pale gray she-cat with ice blue eyes_

Morningpaw _pale gray she-cat with yellow eyes_

Queens: Amberwing _pale ginger she-cat with amber eyes_

Kits: Birchkit _pale ginger tom with amber eyes_

Sunkit _pale ginger tom with amber eyes_

Lionkit _pale ginger tom with amber eyes_

Maplekit _brown and cream she-kit with amber eyes_

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><p><strong>NightClan<strong>

Leader: Nightstar _black tom with bright yellow eyes_

Deputy: Ragingwish _dark brown tabby tom with pale green eyes_

Medicine Cat: Blacksoul _dark gray tom with a black chest and underbelly and dark brown eyes_

Warriors: Hawkear _light brown tabby tom with amber eyes_

Eaglewing_ light gray mottled she-cat with gold eyes_

Falconeye _light brown tabby tom with gold eyes_

Crimsonspirit _reddish she-cat with white markings on her forehead and a white chest and underbelly and amber eyes_

Wolfslash_ light gray tom with broad shoulders, a long scar along his flank, a white tail-tip, and dark blue eyes_

Proudstrike_ dark brown and white tom with yellow eyes_

Lightningtalon _scraggly-furred tortoiseshell with blue eyes_

Apprentice: Vixenpaw

Brokenheart_ scarred, dark gray mackerel tabby tom with green eyes_

Apprentice: Icepaw

Twistedfoot_ muscular, brown mottled tom with amber eyes_

Apprentice: Lostpaw

Deadear _dark brown tabby tom with a ripped ear and brown eyes_

Apprentices: Vixenpaw_ orange tabby she-cat with amber eyes_

Icepaw _white she-cat with thick fur and amber eyes_

Lostpaw _ginger and white spotted tom with green eyes_

Queens: Coldspike _white she-cat with gray flecks and ice blue eyes_

Kits: Thornkit _light brown tabby tom with amber eyes_

Pantherkit _black she-kit with ice blue eyes_

Frostkit _white tom with gray flecks and ice blue eyes_

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

A half moon shone down on the shimmering pool, partially obscured by the mist rising from the cascading waterfall. Stars winked down on the peaceful scene, seemingly closer than normal. _The line between the realms of the mystic and the normal appeared to be blurred here,_ the gray tom thought to himself as he sat by the edge of the small hollow. _And it is just as well, for if it weren't, I would not be able to appear here._

Over the rim of the stone hollow drifted a slight breeze, tugging at the tom's thick fur. He looked up just in time to see four cats slip over the side, leaping down around the pool. As their bodies solidified in this place of magic, their colorings became clear; orange, light brown tabby, white with a black paw, and blue-gray. The four newcomers sat at equal distances from each other, so that a star could be formed with the starry cats as the points.

"Welcome," the dark gray tom meowed, bowing his head. "Welcome, great leaders of old. I have missed the peace you brought to the forest."

The tabby smiled. "It was the least we could do," he rumbled. "WindClan was always the strongest of the four. We had to help our fellow Clans."

The muscular, white tom growled low in his throat. "Are you calling ShadowClan weak, Onestar?"

The gray tom quickly broke in before an argument could begin. "Well, I believe Firestar's Clan, ThunderClan, did most of the preparing, but all four of the Clans each played an influential part in the Great Battle against the Dark Forest. Without any of you leading your Clans into battle that fateful day, the battle would have been lost."

His words seemed to ease the tension in the hollow. Ruffled fur was smooth and growls were replaced with purrs. The blue-gray cat, the only she-cat in the group, dipped her head to the gray tom. "Well said, Ashthorn," she meowed.

Ashthorn nodded back to her. "Thank you, Mistystar," he meowed. "Now, if we can get on with business?"

"What about it?" the white tom asked lazily.

"My kits," Ashthorn meowed, "Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and Rainpaw. They have inherited my position as leaders of LeopardClan as I wished. But I do not think that they should be given their nine lives quite yet."

"Why not?" asked the orange tom.

"Well, Firestar, I think that they should first discover who they really are destined to be," Ashthorn explained earnestly. "If they receive them now, they might be tempted to do rash things, especially my daughter."

"Always rash, that one," the white tom rumbled. "But a fine warrior. She should make you proud."

"And so she does," Ashthorn murmured, looking at the sparkling pool of water. "Every moment of every day." He closed his eyes and whispered, "I made that mistake once. Never again will I do such a terrible thing."

"So… you don't want them to get their nine lives until they really need them? You realize you're risking their lives in the process? If your plan is to succeed, they sort of have to be, well, _alive._"

Ashthorn's eyes snapped back open. "Yes, I realize that, Blackstar," he half-growled. "But if my kits are truly leaders, which I know them to be, they will be wise enough between the three of them that they should survive long enough to receive their nine lives."

"Should?"

"It's better than 'shouldn't'."

Blackstar sighed dramatically. "Okay, fine. If you're sure."

"I am," Ashthorn said determinedly. He glanced around at the other three leaders as if expecting them to contradict him. They didn't.

"Well, if that's settled, then I'd better go. Bluestar wanted to talk to me about some futuristic prophecy or other." He rolled his eyes. "She got it from Goosefeather. You know how it is with her and prophecies from Goosefeather. He had one right one about her and suddenly she thinks they're all right."

Onestar laughed. "Yeah. I know he's a medicine cat and all, but seriously, he has to stop spouting 'prophecies' about the clouds turning into huge stars and the cats moving back to the old Forest. I mean, the place was completely destroyed by Twolegs! Come on!"

Chortling, the two toms headed off through the trees. Mistystar nodded briefly to Blackstar and Ashthorn before leaping out of the hollow herself. Blackstar merely disappeared into the shadows and was gone.

Ashthorn remained by the pool, gazing into its depths. He knew it wouldn't show him anything, that staring at it was completely pointless, but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't tear himself away. He kept thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would become transparent and show him a vision – just one vision – of his kits. He couldn't help but wish he'd spent more time with them as their father while he was still alive. He wished he'd gotten to know his own kits.


	2. The First Day

**The first chapter has been written! And now it has been posted! :) Thank you all for being patient while I thought up ideas for what will happen in this story. Here's the first chapter from Sootpaw's POV! Well, I guess you've sort of already seen it, maybe. Oh well, I suppose you will anyway after the review replies below! ^^**

**EradrinSkyleaf: Here's some more for you! :)**

**MistClan505: **You go in to edit the document in Doc Manager and it's the 6th button from the left. Believe me, it took me so long to figure out how to do the gray line thing too. :P****

****Anova00: Yes, it is! :D****

****ShadowHawk: Don't worry, I'll keep this series going until the end! ;) I wouldn't want to disappoint the fans who go wild! XD****

****Nightfeather: Yeah, that was my inspiration for the title. :) And who knows, they might argue about... some things... ;)****

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><p><strong>Sootpaw's POV<strong>

Day one of being a leader. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

I sighed to myself, gazing out at the camp from the Highledge. I knew I really should be in the Leader's Den planning out the day with Cinderpaw and Rainpaw, but I honestly couldn't spend more than about a minute in there. I couldn't bear the increasingly stale scent of my father.

My father. Yesterday, I'd finally realized how he'd been hiding in plain sight. Yesterday, I said goodbye to him forever.

I sighed heavily, scratching idly in the dust with a claw. I'd buried my father this morning, yet hadn't even known him long enough to grieve. Yes, I'd stayed up the traditional night by his side with my littermates, but honestly, I'd thought more of my mother. Lightwing didn't know about Ashthorn's death. She still thought he'd come to get her when peace was restored.

Well, I'd just have to do that duty in Ashthorn's place. Just like leading LeopardClan. Just like defeating Nightstar and NightClan. Just like restoring peace to the entire lake.

"Sootpaw?"

I jumped and spun around at the quiet voice behind me, only relaxing when I recognized the speaker. It was Dawnpaw.

Her flank was sliced through with a deep wound that still looked like it could start bleeding. It obviously hurt her, because as she shifted her weight nervously from paw to paw, she kept wincing.

"Shouldn't you be in the medicine den?" My question came out harsher than I'd meant, and she stepped backwards, her hind paw nearly slipping off the boulder she was perched on.

"I – I… wanted to see you," she said uncertainly, averting her eyes. "If you… um… didn't want me to come-"

"No," I meowed quickly, padding forward. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry." I let out another heavy sigh. "I guess I'm just adjusting to the strain of leadership is all."

"Oh, I completely understand," Dawnpaw said earnestly, taking a step forward again, away from the edge of the rock. "I mean, if I'd been appointed leader instead of you and your littermates, I'd probably be crumpling already!"

"Yeah, it'd just be you," I said, smiling semi-playfully. "At least I have two other cats I can push all the responsibility onto, right?"

That wiped the smile from her face. "Yeah," she murmured, turning away. "Um, I have to go back to the medicine den now. Stormtuft said I could only come out for a little while."

I stood there, slightly dumbstruck, wondering what I could have possibly said wrong. As I watched Dawnpaw reach the bottom of the rockfall and pad off toward the medicine den, her tail trailing in the dust, I tried to think what the matter could be.

"Unlucky again?" Cinderpaw's voice sounded from behind me and I turned toward her, shaking my head.

"I just don't know what I could have done wrong."

"You mentioned her littermate," Cinderpaw reprimanded. "You know, Featherpaw?"

I could have hit myself over the head, but it was sort of awkward with the way my limbs were positioned. "So that's what I did! Oh great, she'll never forgive me for this!"

Cinderpaw gave me a sympathetic look, then glanced meaningfully over her shoulder. Rainpaw had also emerged from the Leader's Den. As I looked past her at him, I saw him glance at the center of the clearing, where he'd lain between Ashthorn and Silverdapple last night. He was the only one of us three to actually grieve wholeheartedly for one of the dead.

I shut up about Dawnpaw. I figured it would be pretty inconsiderate of me to ask Rainpaw's opinion of Dawnpaw when he'd just lost Silverdapple.

"So what did you decide?" I asked, sitting down once again on the Highledge.

"Well, I'm going to lead the Sunhigh border patrol and Aspentail will lead the Sundown border patrol. Rainpaw will lead the morning hunting patrol and you'll lead the afternoon hunting patrol," Cinderpaw listed. Then, turning to Rainpaw, she added, "That's it, right?"

"Right," Rainpaw meowed. His eyes were red and his knees seemed to be slightly shaking, but his ears were forward and his tail was up. I could tell he was trying to be strong for us and the rest of the Clan, but I didn't reprimand him. If I told him he could never be strong, he'd never be a leader like Ashthorn was.

I nodded briskly. "Great. So you should probably get going."

Cinderpaw nodded. "Yeah. Rainpaw, could you go call the cats we decided on? You should probably head on out right now. The fresh-kill pile is looking a little low."

"Okay," Rainpaw said, smiling at us. I tried to look past how it seemed more to be a forced grimace as he bounded down the rockfall, his paws thudding heavily on the stone. He used to bounce around everywhere he went. What had happened to that ball of energy and optimism that had been Rainpaw?

"What're you going to do?" Cinderpaw asked me quietly. I knew she already knew the answer – it was why she'd sent Rainpaw to get the warriors.

"I guess I'll have to go after Dawnpaw," I sighed. "I have to tell her I'm sorry."

Cinderpaw gazed across the clearing to the large bush where the warriors den was. "I just hope Rainpaw will be all right," she murmured. "Of all three of us, he shouldn't have been the one to lose one he loved so much."

I nodded. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to keep my interactions with Dawnpaw out of Rainpaw's way. I don't want him feeling jealous or sad."

Cinderpaw looked down. "I knew you would, but I had to make sure. You know? Rainpaw can't suffer any more than he has to. And it would kill him if he had to pretend to be happy for you and Dawnpaw."

"I know," I assured her. "Now go lead that patrol of yours, okay?"

Cinderpaw rolled her eyes at me. "Fine, if you say so," she meowed sarcastically before leaping down the rockfall with the agility and speed of a leopard. A leopard leading LeopardClan.

Snorting at my own joke, I stood and padded down after her. I had to go in search of Dawnpaw.

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><p><strong>I've noticed, going back and reading the first chapters of Misty Horizon, that my writing has improved since I started this series. So, instead of a QOTD this chapter, I'm going to tell you why.<br>**

**AOTD: It's because I've been writing almost daily, or been trying to. My Creative Writing teacher at school told us at the beginning of the year how important it was to write daily, so I've been writing this series for my daily writing. Now, after about two months, I'm definitely seeing improvement. Now, if any of you would like to try this "daily writing" thing, I'd be more than happy to support you, if you have an account. I figure it's only fair, as you've all been supporting me for so long! :)**


	3. An Encounter

**I just realized the Allegiances I posted are a little in the future of the book. :P Oops! Amberwing's kits won't be born until later. Sorry about that! Also, I originally planned for this chapter to be up yesterday night, but I hadn't quite finished when it got too late to continue. :( Well, here it is (finally)! Hope you enjoy!  
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**EradrinSkyleaf: It's the best feeling ever, isn't it? :) Knowing how much you've improved and how much you're bound to improve later on?**

**ShadowHawk: XD Sootpaw doesn't know that! Well, I guess he'd better figure it out, hadn't he? Also, were you camping or hiking in the mountains or what? I love the great outdoors, personally, though it can get pretty cold at times! Especially now that it's mid-October.  
><strong>

**MistClan505: Aw, thanks for noticing! :3 I've also noticed how you've improved with the clarity of your story. Also, since you now *ahem* have less characters to write about, it'll probably help a lot! I actually really do like your story. It's got an interesting plot and the writing's already improving! ;)  
><strong>

**Bobbie1776: Here's the next chappie you've been waiting for! And yeah, all of them are generally figuring out what being a leader really means. XD Should be interesting.**

**Nightfeather: Well, what is FanFiction for? :P I'd advise writing FanFictions that copy heavily. That'll help with your own ideas, I think. It's exactly how I started. And I think it's only fair if I help all of you out, too. :) I remember when I was just starting, I got help from so many people and it really helped me out! Also, you're all supporting me, so why shouldn't I support you in return? ;)  
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><p><strong>Cinderpaw's POV<strong>

I couldn't wait to get out into the forest. It had only been one night and already my paws were heavy with the weight of responsibility. Why did I have to lead an entire Clan? Sure, Sootpaw and Rainpaw could probably help some, but to be honest, they were both too busy mooning over she-cats to take their duties as leader seriously.

Oh, no. I shouldn't have said that.

I mentally kicked myself. Why had I said that about Rainpaw? What if I'd unintentionally sent it to him mentally? What would he think? He was grieving so much over Silverdapple. I couldn't let anything hurt him. I had to protect him.

Well, I could definitely protect him from those scrounging rogues who called themselves NightClan. It was what I was doing now, in fact, with three warriors and another apprentice at my back.

I quickly glanced over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't getting too far ahead of my patrol. It was tough leading cats slower than you! But I needn't have feared. Sparrowtalon, Scorchblaze, and Foxtooth, made a warrior after the battle, were bounding along right behind me, Scorchblaze's new apprentice, Shadepaw, at her mentor's side.

I'd considered whether or not to take Shadepaw on this patrol. She was inexperienced and hadn't even caught her first prey yet. However, I figured it would be good for her to patrol the NightClan boundary as soon as possible to let her know exactly where our enemy was and to prevent her from investigating on her own. According to Mistheart, Shadepaw had always been the most adventurous of her three kits.

Anyway, it wasn't as if she wasn't heavily protected. There was me, obviously the best fighter there, Sparrowtalon, who was almost as good as me, and Scorchblaze, who was decent enough but nowhere near my skill. Of course, I wouldn't dare say that in front of her. She would confront me in the camp and, of course, I'd have to respond in kind. We couldn't have that sort of violence tearing apart the Clan. Foxtooth was pretty good with his claws, too, but was too young to really be of much more use than fighting back any attackers intent on getting at Shadepaw. Even though he was already eleven moons old and older than me, he was still too young to be of much use.

I returned my gaze to the front just as we reached a wide clearing. According to the other apprentices, this was the site of many ancient battles between ThunderClan and ShadowClan and where Bramblestar lost his ninth life. I shivered; the place gave me the chills. Then, I quickly glanced over my shoulder to make sure the patrol hadn't noticed.

I padded cautiously into the clearing, the patrol behind me, the Sunhigh sunlight warming the gray fur on my back. It seemed to be all quiet.

"Come on up, Shadepaw," I murmured, flicking my tail at her. She walked up to my side, eyes wide with awe and, thankfully, fear. I'd been hoping to scare her out of making plans for a NightClan invasion. I really didn't have time to go rescuing her.

"Smell that? Those are the NightClan scent markers."

Shadepaw's nose wrinkled as she drew level with me. I hoped it was, indeed, the NightClan markers and not because my whiskers stank or something. A heartbeat later, though, she nodded, so I assumed it was the former.

"The cats who made these markers were the ones who attacked the camp yesterday," I meowed seriously.

Shadepaw nodded. "Mistheart said that's why you, Sootpaw, and Rainpaw made us apprentices," she meowed.

"That's right," I agreed. "We figured it would be best to promote all the apprentices ready to become warriors and all the kits ready to become apprentices. Those cats were Foxtooth, Rustpelt, Twigpaw, Morningpaw, and you."

Shadepaw glanced over her shoulder toward the camp as I mentioned her brother and sister. "Can we just hurry up?" she muttered, backing away to stand beside Scorchblaze again.

I couldn't blame her. I thought I knew exactly what she was feeling. She must be missing her littermates. Personally, I'd only been separated from my brothers for an afternoon at most. Shadepaw had probably never spent a moment apart from her own siblings, and was missing them.

"Sure thing," I meowed, turning to continue along the border.

"Going somewhere?"

I spun around to come face-to-face with a pair of glistening fangs, bared and seemingly ready to sink into my eyes, blinding me forever. I did the only sensible thing to do. I stayed put, glaring upward at the fully grown warrior. I couldn't show weakness or fear, especially as a leader.

"Not anymore," I growled, trying to spit at his nose. It worked – a glob of spittle landed on his nostrils and he snorted, trying to rub it off.

"Oh, very funny," he hissed, his pale green eyes glinting dangerously. "You think you're good enough to take on me? The deputy of NightClan?"

His last question ended in a screech, but I didn't flinch. I couldn't, not after I'd spat at him. Anyway, beside turning around to see a pair of fangs, a screech was perfectly bearable. So I glared right back at him, blue meeting green in a mental war. "Yes, I think I just might be able to do that," I hissed, my voice quiet but nonetheless echoing around the silent clearing. "I am, after all, the leader of LeopardClan."

Surprise and disbelief flashed momentarily in the tom's eyes, almost instantly covered again, but it was enough to give me a pawhold.

"Surprised?" I sneered, showing my own teeth in a snarl.

"Not remotely," the tom rumbled in a purr that would make most apprentices run for cover. Indeed, I thought I heard Shadepaw whimper a little behind me. I assumed she did, because a moment later, the tom's gaze flicked over my shoulder to the rest of the patrol. "Ah, taking the kits out for a lovely stroll along our borders, eh?" he asked in a sneer of his own. "How nice. Perfect prey for a NightClan warrior."

"Don't tell me you actually eat apprentices?" I asked, trying to sound brave with my stomach twisting in queasiness. I wouldn't put cannibalism past these monsters. What if he was telling the truth?

The tom laughed. "If we do, I'm not going to tell you, _kit._" He flicked his tail at the trees behind him. I glanced past him and saw, to my utter horror, six or seven fully grown NightClan warriors emerge from the trees behind him. Amongst the crowd, I spotted the reddish she-cat I'd fought yesterday. I was pleased to see that the white markings on her forehead were still covered with the sticky residue of blood I'd drawn.

"See these cats?" the NightClan deputy growled, obviously enjoying the moment. "They're all trained to kill at the slightest signal. If I were to flick my tail forward now, they would all attack, every single one of them. It would be a bloodbath; well, at least it would be a bloodbath for LeopardClan. And I'm afraid you'd join your failure of a father in StarClan while your weak, heartbroken brothers try to keep control."

"No."

The deputy's eyes flashed. "What did you say?" he growled.

"I said no!" I said more forcefully, taking a step forward. "You will never hurt another one of us again!"

"Brave words, little she-kit," the tom murmured in his deep, rumbling voice that was somehow worse than his screech. He lowered his muzzle to my ear and continued in an undertone. "Can you ever fulfil them? I doubt it."

His last three words rang in my ears. I was on the point of leaping at him and clawing that smug look off his ugly face, of sinking my teeth through that dark brown tabby pelt and ripping out chunks of fur while he writhed in agony beneath me. I knew I could do it. But then I heard another quiet whimper from behind me.

Shadepaw needed me to get us out of this safely. But what could I do?

I glanced around as surreptitiously as I could without giving the deputy free reign to attack, scanning the surroundings. We were in a clearing. Bad. But I seemed to remember there was a stream nearby. Good. If we could make it to the trees, we could climb to relative safety. But Shadepaw couldn't climb and I would have bet the choice pick of the fresh-kill pile that the NightClan warriors could run faster than just about any of us.

Suddenly, the beginnings of a plan formed in my mind. It might work, it probably wouldn't, but it was the best we had. I just had to hope the other LeopardClan warriors could follow my lead without confusion.

"Well, what about your words?" I asked boldly. "You were saying something about them following your every move? Well what if one of them thought they could become deputy by killing you in the confusion of the battle?"

The tom glanced over his shoulder at his warriors. My diversion had worked.

"Climb!" I screeched to my Clanmates, whirling around and leaping at Shadepaw. I grabbed her scruff as I passed, staggering slightly under her deadweight but recovering in time to leap at the nearest tree. Sinking in my claws, I leaped up the trunk like a squirrel, hoping I wasn't scraping the young apprentice too badly against the tree bark.

"No!" the tom screeched. "No! Get the LeopardClan cats!" Right on cue, the NightClan warriors leaped forward in a wave of claws and fur, wide eyes gleaming and teeth bared in snarls of hatred. So it turned out that they _did_ follow the deputy.

I set Shadepaw down on a sturdy-looking branch and quickly glanced around to make sure the others had made it to safety. To my relief, I spotted Sparrowtalon in a tree adjacent to mine and both Scorchblaze and Foxtooth clinging to branches of a nearby cedar tree.

"Ha!" I yowled down at the NightClan warriors. "Not so used to climbing, are you?"

They could only howl at me in reply.

The deputy was standing at the base of my tree, his paws on the trunk, glaring at me as if he wished me nothing but evil. Well, that was probably the general idea of him glaring at me.

"Never forget, kit-leader," he called up, his voice shaking with fury. "Never forget me! I'll always be watching for you. And when we meet again, I _will _kill you. You hear me? I, Ragingwish, deputy of NightClan, swear to take the breath from your lungs and send you on your way to the stars!"

The tabby cast me one last, burning look, before pushing away from the trunk and beckoning silently to his warriors, melting back into the shadows.

I crouched on my branch, staring silently after him. The scents of eight NightClan warriors lingered on the air, drifting upward to where I perched halfway up the tree. If the three warriors and I hadn't been so coordinated and quick-thinking, blood would have been shed. Those NightClan cats would have completely annihilated us.

I growled softly, sinking my claws into the soft bark. We'd lost too many cats in the last battle. Four cats, all good warriors, all no longer with us. Four may not seem like many, but in a battle with deadly warriors all trained to kill, we needed those four cats more than ever. Only we couldn't get them anymore.

We had to get back to camp. I had to tell Sootpaw and Rainpaw about this. They had to know how hopelessly outnumbered we were. And, as I helped Shadepaw descend the tree again and we set off back to camp, I couldn't help but wonder, for the first time, if we wouldn't lose this war after all.

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><p><strong>So the action begins...<br>**

**I actually have a good idea for a QOTD, so I'll do that and some advice this chapter, okay? :) I'm sure you're all A-okay with that.**

**QOTD: What was your first idea for a FanFiction?**

**Ad-OTD (Advice Of The Day): The subject has to agree with the verb. Example: The cars of the businessman were exceptionally dirty. The=adjective. Cars=subject. Of the businessman=prepositional phrase (don't let these confuse you!). Were=verb. Exceptionally=adverb. Dirty=adjective. How to tell if the subject and verb agree is to take out all the words between the two. The cars were exceptionally dirty. That makes sense, see?**


	4. A New Plan

**It's an upload one day after the last upload! :D I'm excited, are you?**

**catbooklover2004: Yup, I got that message two days ago and I'm still uploading the next chapter. Sorry, but I really don't believe in those sorts of things. They're meant to scare people who read them into spreading messages all over the place. And I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I'm not sure you really read the chapter...?**

**Anova00: Aw :( I'd have loved to hear your first idea! But I'm glad you're a FanFiction member now, and not a Guest. :)**

**ShadowHawk: My cats always walk over my keyboard when I'm trying to type something, but I always move them off because I'm scared they'll accidentally step on a button and the entire document will disappear or they'll sit on the backspace button. XD And that's a cool idea, even though I don't know anything about pokemon! :P**

**MistClan505: I'm thinking about maybe taking a part of your idea, if that's okay? :-/ That's really cool how you can work that idea into many different story ideas, though! And sorry for being confusing. XD First it's me telling you you're being confusing, then it's you telling me I'm being confusing! Wow, that's pretty funny.**

**EradrinSkyleaf: Let's see... *googles intenseness* The definition is: depth of feeling. Yes, it is a word! XD And I tried rewriting my first uploaded FanFiction, but lost my motivation pretty quickly. :P You must have more motivation than me to actually edit!**

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><p><strong>Rainpaw's POV<strong>

"I can't believe it. This is bad. This is very, very bad."

I sat in the Leader's Den, watching as Sootpaw paced back and forth, tail lashing from side to side. "There were seven warriors, you say, Cinderpaw?" he checked.

Cinderpaw, who was crouched next to the mossy nest, nodded. "Yeah. They all hadn't quite healed from the battle, but they were fit enough."

"Ready to fight," Sootpaw muttered, turning and pacing back across the den. "They could theoretically attack at any time. And they'd most certainly win, with so many warriors trained and ready for battle." He paused, head bent, eyes shut. Every muscle remained still

I remained quiet, watching as the cogs worked in his mind. Sootpaw had always been the smartest of the three of us, with a highly tactical mind and floods of new ideas at all times. I knew that he could figure it out. He would know what to do.

Sootpaw suddenly threw back his head and let out a noise somewhere between a growl and a hiss. "No!" he yowled, slicing his claws through the dust. "No!"

"What is it?" Cinderpaw asked, her brow furrowing with worry. She also knew Sootpaw was the smartest. If he seemed to be at a loss, then we would have to ask the Clan at large. Cinderpaw wouldn't want to show that much weakness.

"We have too few warriors," Sootpaw hissed, pounding his paw against the stone. I winced – it looked like it hurt, but Sootpaw acted like it was nothing. "We can't hold our own against NightClan."

"So what do we do?" Cinderpaw asked, her eyes growing wide. "We can't just magically pull cats out of nothing. It takes time to train cats and we've already promoted all the cats we can. It takes too much time to train apprentices."

"I know," Sootpaw growled, beginning to pace again. "But if we don't find backup, then we're already dead. Where can we find cats both able and willing to fight for us?"

Silence followed his words. I tried my hardest, but I couldn't think of anything. For some reason, that old story Lightwing had told us as kits about how the Clans had fallen kept invading into my mind. Pushing it aside in irritation, I tried to focus.

What would I think to do if I were smarter? What did the smartest cats do when the Clans fell? _No._ I can't get distracted by that now. But why was it trying to distract me anyway?

I thought through the story. Bramblestar had gotten into a disagreement with Rowanstar, and eventually killed each other. WindClan tried to keep the peace but eventually got involved in the war. RiverClan left…

"The smart cats!" I blurted out.

Both Sootpaw and Cinderpaw looked at me as though I had four legs and leaves for ears. "What?" Cinderpaw asked, sounding incredulous.

"The – the RiverClan cats," I stammered, my heart racing with both nerves and excitement. What if my littermates thought my idea was stupid? "They left the lake, didn't they? And they went to go live a life away from the lake. Sort of like the peaceful cats Lightwing went with."

"What about them?" Sootpaw asked, eyebrows knitting with confusion.

"Um… maybe we could sort of go find them?" I trailed off into silence, looking at my paws.

"What did you say? I didn't quite hear you," Sootpaw meowed.

I looked up and repeated myself louder. "Maybe we could go find the RiverClan cats and they could help us reclaim the lake."

Cinderpaw suddenly looked interested. "That's a good idea, Rainpaw. Yeah, the RiverClan cats could help us!"

But Sootpaw was shaking his head. "We don't know where they went, Rainpaw," he said sadly. "And even if we did, do you really think they'd join us? They left for peace, after all. Would they really return to fight a war?"

My spirits plummeted like they'd just been crushed beneath a falling tree. My idea wasn't going to work.

"Can you think of something better, then?" Cinderpaw asked, getting to her paws and glaring at Sootpaw. "Because if so, then I'd love to hear it. But from what you said before, you've got nothing. And I've got nothing, too. Rainpaw's the only one with an idea, and I think it's at least worth a try."

"But if we leave to go on a quest, then who will lead the Clan? And what if NightClan attacks while we're gone?"

"If you'd rather sit around here and try to prepare for an attack we'll most certainly lose against–"

"Who says we're going to lose this battle?" Sootpaw growled. "There's still a chance we might win!"

"You and I both know that's not true!" Cinderpaw hissed. She and Sootpaw glared at each other for a heartbeat. I looked on, terrified they would throw themselves at each other, all because of something I'd said. What had become of us?

Then, Cinderpaw's expression softened. "Sootpaw, I know how much you like us to stick together and I realize you have a duty to protect LeopardClan because of Ashthorn. But I'm afraid you're going to have to give up one of those."

The fight left Sootpaw in a rush. His chin fell, his eyes closed, his tail drooped to rest on the ground, and the fur along his spine flattened. He looked utterly defeated. "I just don't think we should be separated," he whispered. "I'm sorry, Rainpaw, for trying to put down your idea, but I just don't like it."

"I don't like it either," I said swiftly.

"We have to do something," Cinderpaw reminded us.

"I know," Sootpaw murmured. He sighed and lifted his head again. "How about this. Just in case RiverClan decides not to fight, we need a backup plan. What other cats used to be Clan cats? The peaceful cats in the forest."

My jaw dropped. "I thought you thought that idea was stupid because they wouldn't fight! If RiverClan won't fight, the peace-loving cats would be impossible to convince to return to the lake!"

"Well, it's worth a try," Sootpaw said with a wry smile. "Most of them left to raise their kits in peace. All of those kits would be about the same age as us, and here we are, leading a Clan. The cats there might actually be homesick for the lake. If we can promise to return the four Clans to them, I bet at least some of them will be willing to fight."

Cinderpaw nodded. "But there's still the problem of who will go," she reminded Sootpaw. "Are you proposing we all go to RiverClan then return here and continue on to the forest, then come back and fight? NightClan most certainly wouldn't wait that long before attacking."

Sootpaw growled low under his breath. "I know," he muttered, scoring his claws though the dirt again. "But I think it's the only way. We'll have to split up."

I stared at Sootpaw. Was he seriously proposing we go separate ways? After all we'd been through?

"Cinderpaw, you might have the best luck with RiverClan. Who knows what dangers lurk between here and RiverClan? And Rainpaw, I'm sure you'd love to see Hyperion again, so you should head back to the forest to the peaceful cats. I…" he swallowed, "…I'll stay here and keep the Clan running."

"Are you sure, Sootpaw?" Cinderpaw asked.

Sootpaw nodded. "Yes. It's the only way. Unless if you have a better idea?" he teased.

Cinderpaw shoved him roughly. "Well, I'm sure you'd love to stay only for the leadership position. How'd this morning go with Dawnpaw?"

Sootpaw pushed her back, laughing, but froze partway through, his eyes flicking to me. Cinderpaw seemed to realize what they'd said half a second later and imitated Sootpaw.

I felt my throat begin to get sore as my eyes welled with sudden tears. Silverdapple. My one true love. We would have been together forever if not for Birdclaw.

But I forced the grief down. I couldn't show weakness and I couldn't make my littermates feel awkward. They didn't deserve that. So I pretended like I hadn't noticed anything.

"What?" I asked, looking from one to the other, miming confusion. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

Both of them looked away immediately. "No reason," Cinderpaw said, her voice unnaturally light and casual. "So… um… are we leaving tomorrow morning?"

"So soon?" Sootpaw asked, looking surprised.

Cinderpaw shrugged. "The sooner the better. The later we leave, the later we get back and the more time Nightstar has to attack us."

I nodded. "Cinderpaw's right. We should go as soon as possible."

Sootpaw closed his eyes, fighting to turn a grimace into a smile. He didn't quite manage it. "Okay," he meowed in a choked sort of voice. "Tomorrow."

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><p><strong>And so ends the third chapter of Misty Destinies. How'd you like it? :) I'm sorry, but I'm too lazy to think up some advice for you guys today. Maybe next upload I'll have something. Sorry!<br>**

**AOTD: If you want, you can check out my first FanFiction I actually posted. It's called The Lost Snow. But the first FanFiction I thought up and began writing on paper was a trilogy with winged cats. The books were called Into the Sky, Airborne, and Flight. I thought it was pretty cool how they worked like how a bird (or a cat, in this case) takes off INTO THE SKY, remains AIRBORNE, and finally begins FLYING. But I forgot to add in seasons so it never really went past the first ten chapters or so. X3**

**QOTD: How do you think each of the trio will react to separation from the other two?**


	5. Saying Goodbye

**Another chapter! Woohoo! XD Sometimes I think I get too excited for another chapter. Is that just me or do you do that too?**

**QLKwriter: Yeah, that was the general idea. They've already grown as much as they can while they stay together, so they can only continue to grow if they separate.**

**EradrinSkyleaf: XD Yeah, they just **_**might**_** not be too happy about separating. *sarcasm* I'll feel so bad throughout the story because they'll all be missing each other so much and it's me putting them through this misery. :( Oh well. And… #CANDY indeed!**

**Bobbie1776: Scourge's mate is really cliché, but it's just so open for debate! It's why so many people do it, apparently including a younger version of you. :P And that's actually probably what'll happen with the trio. XD Nice guessing!**

**Nightfeather: I feel you with your homework. :( And Birdclaw's dead! She's gone to the Dark Forest where Rainpaw can't follow to kill her again! XD That would make an interesting plot twist, though, if he went to train in the Dark Forest. But it probably won't happen.**

**catbooklover2004: Okay, sorry for thinking you hadn't. *embarrassed* It's just your only reply to the story was "Nice!" and I've gotten a good number of reviews like that over time when people don't actually read the story. Also, about the strange leadership, it's all explained in the first book. Yes, I know it's over 40 chapters long, but it's definitely worth reading for the explanations if nothing else. It'll make this whole second book make much more sense. ;)**

**ShadowHawk: :-/ That's strange... It really was one day for me. I posted one chapter on Friday and the next on Saturday, I thought. Maybe my memory's faulty or something.**

**MistClan505: Okay, thanks for letting me use your idea! :) It's just that I was thinking about what I should put in this story and I came up with this great idea, but then looking back on it later, I realized I might have just been taking your idea. I figured I'd be safe and ask your permission first. ;) And I'll make sure to put in credits to you! If I happen to forget, then just remind me and I'll either re-post the chapter or put it into the next chapter. Sound okay? I just don't trust my own memory. XD**

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><p><strong>Sootpaw's POV<strong>

We spent the night curled up together in the nest. It was still a tight squeeze, as we hadn't yet expanded it, but I didn't care. Lying there with my chin on Rainpaw's shoulder and Cinderpaw sprawled over my hind legs, I felt happy to spend one last night so close to them. I'd be missing them endlessly for half a moon or so until they returned to help me lead again.

Morning came too soon. When I woke to sunlight pouring into the den, I groaned, trying to wish it away. Why couldn't it still be nighttime?

But the light had already woken Cinderpaw. She lifted her head, blinking away the sleep, and extracted herself with minor difficulty from Rainpaw and me. Stretching and yawning, she began to wash herself.

Cinderpaw's movement seemed to have also woken Rainpaw. He blinked his eyes open, also yawning widely, showing his pink tongue and white fangs.

"Morning," he murmured, shaking his head and pushing up his shoulders in a stretch.

"Morning," I replied, rolling off of the mossy nest onto the stone floor of the cave. Shaking my head to clear my lingering drowsiness, I glanced out of the split in the rock leading to the clearing. Squinting through the sunlight, I spotted a few flashes of fur in shades of brown and gray flickering back and forth in the spaces between the rocks on the Highledge. The Clan was awake.

Hurriedly, I began washing my fur, flattening clumps that were sticking up and picking out strands of clinging moss, spitting them onto the ground. I knew I had to hurry, but I definitely wanted to look my best. I'd probably see Dawnpaw today.

"Come on, Sootpaw!" Cinderpaw meowed. I glanced up to see her and Rainpaw already standing at the den entrance. How had they cleaned themselves so fast?

"Yeah, just give me a moment," I muttered, bending back down and running my tongue more quickly through my dark gray fur.

"Your fur is fine!" Cinderpaw rolled her eyes. "Come on, we're already late enough!"

"Fine, fine!" I grumbled, finally abandoning my dedicated washing and pushing myself to my paws. "I just wanted to have good hygiene, which is apparently more than you can say, you skimpy washers, you." I shot my littermates a mock glare. Cinderpaw laughed as she led the way out onto the Highledge and down the Rockfall.

The cats of LeopardClan seemed to all be awake already. I couldn't believe we'd overslept this much.

_Nah, that was just your overlong grooming session you had there,_ Cinderpaw sent me mentally. Then, _Your thoughts are spilling over a little. Keep a tighter grasp on them, will you?_

My fur suddenly grew warm, though it had nothing to do with the bright sunlight. Hastily, I reeled in every last stray thought. What was going on with me today? I was so disorganized and all over the place. Had I really taken that long to groom myself or was Cinderpaw just teasing me? Was my feeling of being all over the place a sign from StarClan that we shouldn't split up? But then how could we possibly defeat NightClan without backup?

"Are you sure about this?" I muttered to Cinderpaw and Rainpaw.

Cinderpaw rolled her eyes at Rainpaw, who turned and meowed, "Yes, Sootpaw. We discussed this already. It's the only way."

"I know, but it's just… do you have to go?" I pleaded, not completely sure what I meant myself.

Rainpaw's gaze softened. "I know what you mean," he murmured, pausing for a moment to press his nose against my cheek, "but we have to do this. You know we have to. But don't worry, we'll see each other soon enough. It's only about half a moon we'll be gone, right?"

"Hopefully," I muttered. "We don't know how far away RiverClan even is!"

Rainpaw drew his tongue over my ear comfortingly. _That's Rainpaw,_ I thought proudly, sure this time to keep my mind to myself. _Always the comforter. He'll make a great leader one day. But what about me? I go to pieces every time something big happens. Look at what happened this morning. What's still happening now!_

Cinderpaw glanced over her shoulder. "Coming, slowpokes?" she asked.

"Yeah," I called, bounding forward with Rainpaw at my side.

We made our way through the Clan to a collection of flattish rocks warmed by the sun. We'd figured this was the best place to make our announcement. It was down at the Clan's level, unlike the Highledge, but still elevated above them so we could be heard and seen by all. We wanted to be part of the Clan today, not separate leaders of the Clan. We had to remind them that, though we were separating temporarily, we were still together as one Clan.

"Let all the cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Sun-Rocks for a Clan meeting!" Cinderpaw yowled. Rainpaw and I scrambled up the stones to stand beside her, with me in the middle.

The cats, looking confused at the change of a Gathering place, bounded over in groups of twos and threes to sit in the grassy clearing, gazing up at us. I felt many pairs of eyes on me and felt my pelt grow slightly hot again. If I became embarrassed by just standing in front of the cats I'd known for what felt like ages, then how could I lead in Cinderpaw's and Rainpaw's absence?

I felt Cinderpaw's hind leg nudge mine. Of course. It was my turn to speak. So, clearing my throat, I stepped forward and fixed my eyes on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Cats of LeopardClan," I began in a slightly quaking voice, "as your leaders, Cinderpaw, Rainpaw, and I have come to a decision." I took a deep breath. Every cat was staring at me. There was no going back now. Once I said it, it would be final. "Cinderpaw and Rainpaw will be temporarily leaving the Clan."

A stunned silence greeted my words. I swallowed nervously, risking a glance down at the cats. Every single one had eyes as wide as walnuts, some even with their jaws parted in amazement or disbelief. Then, one of them – it was impossible to tell which – began yowling.

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Won't we be weaker with less leadership?"

"How do you expect to lead the Clan alone?"

"Is this what Ashthorn would have wanted?"

I looked from face to angry face. Most everyone was either shouting their disapproval or glaring up at me. A few, including Foxtooth and – my heart did a little lurch – Dawnpaw, merely sat there looking speechless with shock.

I locked eyes with Dawnpaw. I meant it to be only for a heartbeat, but somehow I couldn't quite manage to look away. Those pale blue eyes seemed to draw me in, their endless depths beckoning enticingly. I longed to get lost in those eyes, to sit there staring into them until my littermates returned from their quest.

Then Dawnpaw looked away. I remembered our last conversation, the one where I'd brought up Featherpaw. When I'd tried to talk to her later, she'd turned me away, refused to speak to me. I yearned to tell her how much I regretted that.

Cinderpaw had stepped forward. I glanced sideways and saw her staring down the entire Clan, her eyes like chips of blue ice. Suddenly, I was glad I was up in front of the Clan, not amongst the Clan. I wouldn't want to have to face that look.

"You want to know why?" she yowled, somehow managing to be heard over all the noise. "I'll tell you why!"

The clamor quietened by about half. There were still some cries of dissent, but after Cinderpaw swept the crowd with that steely gaze once more, silence fell again.

"I'll tell you why," she repeated in a quieter voice. "You all know exactly how many cats we lost in the battle. Too many. And those on the Sunhigh patrol with me yesterday saw how many NightClan warriors are out there, waiting for their wounds to heal. Too many." She lashed her tail and took a step forward. "Rainpaw and Sootpaw figured out a plan last night. We need backup, right? So Rainpaw and I will be leaving on quests to find cats who will help us fight."

More yowling had begun even before she'd finished speaking.

"Where will you find cats like that?"

"There won't be any cats who'll help us fight!"

"How do you know they'll actually help us? What if they're spies for the enemy?"

"Silence!" Cinderpaw snapped, glaring around at the cats. "We'll make this work, okay? Trust us. You have to trust us to know what we're doing."

The Clan's protests died down yet again. I wondered how Cinderpaw could possibly make them listen so effortlessly. She seemed to know exactly what to say. Which, of course, was more than I could do. Dawnpaw still wasn't making eye contact with me.

"I will be traveling to find RiverClan. Many moons ago, they left the lake to avoid war, yes, but I think that if I offer them freedom if they return, then they will come and fight with us. Also, Rainpaw will be returning to the forest where the peace-loving cats live. We believe that, since those cats left originally to raise their kits in peace, will return to fight for their homes now that their kits have grown into apprentices like us." Cinderpaw took a deep breath, then continued. "We will be leaving this morning to find our backup. After all, the sooner we leave, the sooner we return and the less time NightClan has to attack before our reinforcements arrive."

To my immense relief, the cats of LeopardClan were finally beginning to look thoughtful, and a few were even nodding agreement. It seemed they would accept our decision after all. Which meant that my littermates were, in fact, leaving. There was absolutely no hope now for them to stay here with me.

Rainpaw and Cinderpaw leaped down from the Sun-Rocks and, after a heartbeat, I followed. Together, we made our way through the cats of LeopardClan. They parted in front of us, many wishing Rainpaw and Cinderpaw luck and even a few asking Rainpaw to say hello to cats in the forest for them. I trailed along a pace behind, my tail dragging in the dirt no matter how hard I tried to keep it up.

We emerged from the crowd and paused. The camp entrance was only a few tail-lengths in front of us now. A few tail-lengths away from so many sunrises that would be completely Cinderpaw- and Rainpaw-free. I wasn't looking forward to it at all.

They turned – my loyal, caring brother and my fierce, protective sister. I could see it in their eyes – they were sad to leave. I didn't know if they knew exactly how much my heart was breaking to see them go.

"Take care of yourself," Cinderpaw whispered, pressing her nose against my cheek in a rare gesture of affection. "I'll be back with the RiverClan cats soon enough, don't you worry. I'll find them."

"I know," I muttered, my throat closing up so I could hardly speak. "I know. You'll… you'll do great. You always do."

Cinderpaw grinned. "And don't doubt your abilities. You're a great leader, Sootpaw, you really are."

With that, she turned around and began bounding away. I had half a mind to rush after her, to call her back, but I resisted the urge. She had to do this – she had to leave. And I had to stay here.

I glanced over at Rainpaw. "You'll be okay, won't you, little bro?" I asked, feeling my eyes growing moist.

Rainpaw flashed me a sort of half-smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

"Are…" My question almost died in my throat, but I forced it out anyway. I had to make sure his grief wouldn't prevent him from completing his mission. I had to make sure he wouldn't just give up. "Are you sure you're fine? I mean, ever since the battle, what with Silverdapple and all…"

A pained expression crossed Rainpaw's face, but he forced it away. "No, I'm fine. Really, don't worry about me."

I took a deep breath. The hard question was out of the way.

"But Sootpaw?" Rainpaw continued, staring me right in the eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I wouldn't mind if, you know," his voice lowered and he glanced behind me. "I wouldn't mind if… well, you and Dawnpaw seem to be getting pretty close." He glanced down and gave his chest a few licks.

I felt my fur growing pretty warm myself. "Oh," I muttered, staring down at my paws. That had not been what I was expecting.

"I wouldn't mind. It wouldn't hurt my feelings or anything. Okay?"

"Okay," I meowed, looking up and grinning at him. Rainpaw returned it. "Okay, little bro. Now go do your mission. Cinderpaw and I'll be waiting for you and Lightwing."

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><p><strong>Today's just going to be opposite from the last update, I guess. I have no inspiration for a QOTD, but I have some good advice for you. So here's the advice, I guess. Sorry, I might have both up for the next upload!<strong>

**It's always best to show something rather than telling something. Here's an example from the writing competition I'm entering:**

**It's as dark as if it suddenly turned night as we enter the church. Everything is covered in black, from the windows to the chairs to the people to the big box lying at the front of the room. Though the lid of the box is propped open, I can't see inside. (POV a seven-year-old boy)**

**You know it's a funeral just from the context, rather than saying something along the lines of:**

**As we entered the church, I realized everything had turned as black as night. It must be a funeral.**

**The first is more descriptive and probably more enjoyable to read. So if you can show something rather than just saying it, it would be better. (this goes for tons of scenarios, from descriptions of a party rather than saying it's a party, to describing someone's personality by the way they carry themselves and what clothes they're wearing rather than saying what their personality's like, to showing someone's reaction to something scary or confusing rather than saying that they were scared or that they were confused)**


	6. The Journey Begins

**I'm sorry everyone! I know I haven't posted a new chapter in a long time, and I really have no good reason for it. I'm so sorry. :( But now here it is, and I hope you enjoy!**

**EradrinSkyleaf: Here it is (finally)! :)**

**MistClan505: I know! My mind just sort of drifts away sometimes. It's like it's conspiring against me. *suspiciously glances at mind* And quite honestly, I wasn't even typing up the wrong chapter. I wasn't typing up any chapter. :( So how can I blame you for typing up the wrong chapter? ;)**

**QLKwriter: Yes, so much stuff will go on as Cinderpaw and Rainpaw are gone, but I'm afraid it'll probably be mostly from Rainpaw's and Cinderpaw's POVs. I'll have to think about what to do about Sootpaw...**

**ShadowHawk: No, you only reviewed once, don't worry. ;) And today I'll definitely have more advice! I'm glad you enjoy it!**

**Anova00: Yes, I am Christian. And she _was_ going to go alone. What do you mean by "alone"? If you mean Rainpaw and Sootpaw don't go with her, then yes, she's alone.**

**Nightfeather: Then if you were in the Clan, you'd be one of the few cats. XD I'm kidding. I meant for the entire Clan to get mad, but only a few sentences would be able to be heard above the clamor of cats in general. Sorry if that was unclear. And of course it's one step on the way to being famous! ;) You can be famous someday for your writing. Well, if you practice writing, then you can become famous.**

**Bobbie1776: You're welcome for the tip! And I know - Sootpaw'll be so sad in the next chapter from his POV, probably! :'(**

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><p><strong>Cinderpaw's POV<strong>

I bounded through the thorn barrier, leaving Sootpaw and Rainpaw behind in the clearing to say their goodbyes. I'd left partially to give them some alone time (if you didn't count the entire rest of the Clan watching) and partially because I didn't want them to see my sadness. As I climbed up the ravine outside of camp, I even felt a prickling sensation in my eyes that I'd only felt a few times in my life.

Shaking my head, I began bounding along a forest path leading to the old border with WindClan. I'd have to go around the lake the long way because of the risks of traveling through NightClan territory. I couldn't show weakness. I had to be strong if I wanted to find RiverClan and lead them back to the lake.

By the time I'd reached the lakeshore near the boundary, I heard hurried pawsteps thudding against the ground behind me. I couldn't believe it. Had Sootpaw really come after me? He knew he couldn't come! He had to lead the Clan in Rainpaw's and my absence!

I turned, a sharp retort on the tip of my tongue, but it seemed to disappear when I saw who it was. As the tom sprinted into sight around the trunk of a tree, skidding slightly on the fallen leaves, I saw that his pelt was not gray, but red-orange.

"Foxtooth?" I asked. I'd barely gotten the word out when he collided with me, knocking me to the ground.

"Cinderpaw! I'm so sorry!"

"That's okay," I coughed, gasping air into my flattened lungs. I got to my paws and faced Foxtooth. "What are you doing here?"

Foxtooth glanced down, scraping one paw awkwardly across the sandy lakeshore. "Well, I just… um… thought that maybe you'd… like some company on your journey?" He looked up hopefully.

I was half confused and half speechless with shock. My fall must have knocked my common sense out of whack. Shaking my head, I tried to think.

"Oh." Foxtooth looked crestfallen. "I'm sorry." He turned and began padding back the way he'd come.

"Wait!" I called. "Where are you going?"

Foxtooth whirled around, a glint of confusion in his hazel eyes. "Back to camp. You shook your head no."

"No, I was just thinking," I said uncertainly.

Foxtooth's face lit up. "So I can come?" he asked excitedly.

I'd originally planned on telling him to return to the camp, but now how could I? I'd just let him think he wasn't wanted on the journey and then, like the super-smart feline I was, given him false hope again. I couldn't just crush him twice!

"Fine," I muttered, turning away toward WindClan territory again. "You can come. But if Sootpaw gets mad at you when we get back, it's not my fault."

Foxtooth's face split in a wide grin. "Thanks, Cinderpaw!" he exclaimed joyfully, bounding alongside me. I fought to keep from rolling my eyes. He could be so immature at times. Sure, he was a good and loyal friend, but he'd been constantly hanging around me recently. It was starting to get on my nerves.

We walked through WindClan territory, sticking close to the shore. Foxtooth chattered on and on until, about halfway through, he seemed to realize I never said much back to him. Thankfully, he shut up, and we progressed in silence. Finally, we reached a river and saw that the hills ended on its bank.

"We must be at the old border between RiverClan and WindClan," I meowed, speaking for the first time in hours.

"Yeah, it looks like it," Foxtooth said. "Come on, let's go down to the river! We should be able to cross it before the sun sets."

My heart missed a beat when he said the word "cross". My mind flashed back to that terrible rainstorm where I'd nearly dragged Sootpaw and myself to our deaths. I could feel the icy water seeping under my fur, the debris slamming into me as I tumbled head over heels downriver.

"Cinderpaw, are you coming?" Foxtooth was waiting by the bank of the river.

I stuck out my chin and bounded down after him. "Of course," I muttered, flashing him an annoyed look. "Just scanning the terrain is all."

"Are you sure?" he pressed, grinning at me. "You sure you're not scared of crossing the river?"

I bristled. "Of course not!" I nearly hissed.

Foxtooth seemed startled by my reaction. Taking a step back, he meowed, "Okay, okay. You're not scared at all, I get it. But… um… it wouldn't be good to get our fur wet, would it? So how about we head over to those stepping-stones over there?" He pointed upstream with his tail to a set of stones poking above the surface of the river.

Memories tried to surge upward again, trying to overwhelm me, but I forced them down again. It was a clear evening, with not a hint of rain. The river was anything but turbulent. There was nothing to be scared of.

I lifted my chin and walked over to the stepping stones with my tail loftily high. I already hated having company – it meant I had to show off constantly to maintain my reputation. Why couldn't I just be myself for a little while? Why did Foxtooth have to ruin everything?

Standing on the bank of the river, gazing across the water, I tried to imagine myself sprinting across the stones faster than a flash of the brightest lightning. I could just picture it; feeling the smooth, worn stone beneath my paws and the wind in my fur. My eyes narrowed. I could do this. No petty fear was going to stop me.

I leaped from the shore, landing on the first stepping stone. Without pausing to rest, I bounded forward again. I didn't even skid on the third stone, allowing me to soar gracefully to the fourth stone with barely any time taken for my paws to touch the third stone. The river flowed on beneath me as I crossed it, peaceful and docile as a snake sleeping in the sun. I was aware the whole time of how one misstep, one misjudged leap, could send me plunging into the water, awakening the snake. But I continued on, refusing to let that knowledge slow my paws or hinder my jumps.

My paws hit the riverbank and I turned to grin at Foxtooth, standing on the opposite shore still. "How's that for scared?" I called.

"Not bad," Foxtooth replied, beginning to cross himself.

I scoffed under my breath. _Not bad?_ Obviously, he didn't know how terrified of water I was. Obviously, I wasn't going to let him find out.

As soon as Foxtooth finished crossing the stepping stones, I set off. We padded along at a brisk pace, side by side but not speaking. I dissuaded conversation by keeping my eyes fixed on the horizon and flicking my tail agitatedly back and forth.

Just when the sun had touched the tops of the trees, I spotted two fallen trees, one leaning against one still living and the other propped on one of the first fallen tree's branches. Together, along with a few bushes to fill in the gaps, it created a semi-sheltered area under which I could spend the night and, more importantly, provided enough space that I could curl up away from Foxtooth.

Nodding at the "den", I said, "There's a good place to spend the night." I almost added "don't you think" at the end, but stopped myself in time. I wanted there to be no confusion as to who was leading this quest. Quite honestly, I thought Foxtooth would make a terrible leader. But I wasn't going to judge him for that, of course.

Without waiting for Foxtooth's confirmation, I began bounding across the field to the edge of the forest, where the shelter was situated. Upon ducking under the trunk of one tree, I saw that a layer of dried leaves covered the ground. For a heartbeat, I wondered if they were left over from last year, or if they were just early to fall from the trees.

Quickly, I swept my tail through the leaves, pushing a small heap into a corner where a tree touched the ground. Then, I clawed some of the moss from the slowly decaying tree and spread that on top, creating a makeshift nest. It wouldn't have any of the support dried bracken provided, but it would at least be comfy.

Foxtooth seemed to understand that I wanted to sleep apart from him, because he was copying my actions on the other side of the den, where the second tree rested against the ground. Smiling slightly to myself, I curled into my nest, circling several times before flopping down on top of it.

The moss was damp.

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><p><strong>Ah, just one more injustice in Cinderpaw's life! Anyway, did you all like the chapter? :) Cinderpaw and Foxtooth, your relationship is so complicated! Are you friends? Do you hate each other? What's going on? XD<strong>

**QOTD: What do you think will happen between Cinderpaw and Foxtooth?**

**AdOTD: Always start a new paragraph when there is a new speaker, no matter how short the paragraph will be. It's for clarity's sake.  
><strong>


	7. Rainpaw's Beginning and an Announcement

**Hey everyone! Lots to say today, but there's a reason for it all, so please hang in there and read through it!**

**First: about my uploading schedule. I'm so sorry to say this, but I'm going to be taking the rest of this month off. :( I know, it's a huge disruption, but there's a good reason for it. It's because I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). In case you don't know what that is, it's this huge event with writers where they just sit down and _write_ for the month of November. The goal of all writers participating is to write 50,000 words in a month (1,667 words per day). It's a huge commitment and I'm already behind - it's (as of right now for me) the evening of November 6th, and that's 6 days I have to make up. So this will be the last chapter for a few weeks, I'm afraid. I hope you understand and I promise to be back in December with (hopefully) greatly improved writing and a determination to finish this series strong.**

**Also, as this story is basically on hold until December, that brings up another subject. No, this isn't as important and it won't affect the series as a whole, but it is interesting. :) For Christmas, I'm hoping to get a drawing tablet for my computer. After that, I'll be making a Deviantart account and will be redoing the chapter "pictures" (the title image? I'm not sure what it's called) to look like real Warrior covers. I'm pretty excited for that! :D  
><strong>

**Okay, now on to the review replies. And since I'll be gone for a month, I'll probably just reply via PM for the reviews of this chapter. Well, except for the guests. (who should really get Fanfiction accounts, whether they want to write Fanfictions or not!)**

**QLKwriter: Don't worry, they're not a couple. XD Cinderpaw just doesn't like Foxtooth very much at the moment. And if I ever decide that they _should_ be a couple, I'll make sure they're warriors first. I agree - apprentice couples generally don't appear in the Warriors series and is, therefore, pretty unrealistic.**

**EradrinSkyleaf: XD If I was planning that, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I? I don't want to spoil the series for you! (and it would spoil the series whether my answer was yes or no, believe me)**

**ShadowHawk: Do you mean that water is H2O and would have a mass of 33.01g? XD I'm learning about molecular mass/volume/particles in Chemistry right now, so that's how I'd know that. And yeah, it'll definitely be a one-sided relationship for a while, but what about afterward? Will it be a no-sided or two-sided relationship?**

**MistClan505: Yeah, sorry about giving advice I already gave you. :( I try not to do that, but either I forgot or I couldn't think of anything else. I don't really know. But yeah, you're right, Cinderpaw and Foxtooth's relationship is really tense at the moment. :P**

**Anova00: Yes, I do celebrate Halloween. Do you?**

**Nightfeather: I actually wanted the ending to be a little more final, but all I could think of was "The moss was wet." XD I'm glad it made you laugh!**

**Bobbie1776: I know! Will Cinderpaw ever open up to Foxtooth? Well, that depends on... a number of things. :P Sorry, I don't want to give out spoilers for the rest of the book!**

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><p><strong>Rainpaw's POV<strong>

I could barely hold my tears in long enough to make it out of camp. As soon as I crested the hill in front of camp, I let them fall. I could feel them staining darker patches down my cheeks as I ran nearly blind through the foliage, giving my fate over to sheer luck that I didn't run into a tree or a thicket of brambles. My shoulders shook with sobs as I bounded through the forest, my heartfelt cries startling the birds in the branches above me.

By the time I regained control of myself, I'd made it to the edge of the territory, close to the border with NightClan. I remembered that when Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and I had first come to the lake, we'd entered about halfway into NightClan territory. It was too dangerous to travel back through NightClan territory, because now I knew how closely we'd escaped death before. So I was going to walk along the edge of the territories until I reached the spot where we'd crossed into NightClan territory.

I stepped out of LeopardClan territory, entering into the no-Clan lands, home to rogues and loners and Twolegs alike. Suddenly, I was all alone, completely open to attack. The fur along my spine stood on end as the reality of my situation rushed in on me. What if a rogue or loner or Twoleg came across me now? What could I do to defend myself?

But I couldn't let myself think like that, or else I'd never finish this quest. Sootpaw and Cinderpaw were depending on me. I had to do my part and bring back the forest cats. So I set off, skirting the edge of the lake territories, toward NightClan territory and my way back to the forest. To Lightwing.

My heart twisted painfully in my chest. I hadn't seen my mother in what felt like seasons, though I knew it had only been about one moon. I wondered if she was thinking of Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and I; if she still missed us.

_Don't be stupid,_ I told myself sternly. _Of course she still misses us. Of course she still cares. She loves us with all her heart._ I wondered how she would react when she saw me again. I wondered if she would even recognize me.

_Stop being stupid!_ I commanded myself again. _You still look the same, don't you?_ I stared down at myself, glancing over my shoulder at my back and my waving tail. Had I changed since I'd left the forest? Was I really the same kit I was?

I thought of Gray – no, I thought of Ashthorn and the tests he put us through. I thought of my role as leader of LeopardClan and of Silverdapple. No, I wasn't the same cat I was. I was stronger, more solemn, like Sootpaw. I was a better cat, I was sure of it. Wasn't I?

A sudden familiar scent tickled my nose. I blinked and glanced around – I'd been so consumed with my thoughts that I hadn't noticed where I was going. Suddenly recognizing the scent, I whipped around, thinking my brother had followed me and was going to accompany me on my journey. But no one was there. Confused, I turned back to the front and sniffed deeply, my jaws parted to better taste the air. Yes, that was definitely Sootpaw's scent. But then where was Sootpaw?

I realized there were two other scents present – Cinderpaw's and mine. Then, common sense hit me with the force of a NightClan warrior. My littermates weren't here with me. These were just our old scents from where we'd first come to the lake. Wow, it seemed so long ago, even though it had only been a little while. Maybe half a moon? I didn't quite remember.

Anyway, if this was where our scents were, then it was time to break away from the lake territories and head off over the terrain again. All I really had to do was follow our old scents and they would lead me right back to the forest. Well, that is unless if the rain washed away our scents. Had it rained since we'd arrived at the lake? It must not have, because I could still smell our scents now, but what if it rained soon? Would I still be able to find my way home?

Well, there was no point in worrying about that now. I shook my head, then began padding off across the terrain, down the side of a hill. It was time to move.

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><p>That night, I found a clump of bushes to shelter in. Hoping there weren't any ticks in them, I wriggled in and found a well-protected little clearing amongst the leafy branches. It was cold and hard on the ground, but I didn't care much. As I circled down on the bare dirt, I was thinking about my littermates. Maybe I could still communicate with them telepathically.<p>

_Sootpaw?_ I mentally called. _Cinderpaw?_

There was no reply. I was completely alone – completely alone for the first time in my life. And I was scared.

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><p><strong>Did you like the chapter? :3 Again, I'm sorry for the pause in posting chapters, but this is something I really want to do and will hopefully be fun! If you want to learn more about NaNoWriMo, then I'd advise Googling it or something. It's really quite interesting!<strong>

**Today's advice will be something I learned while preparing for my month-long writing spree. It's a good piece of advice for when you're just starting to write! And sorry, there's no QOTD. :( I really have to get working on homework and then maybe I can start my NaNoWriMo story! :D**

**AdOTD: Just sit down and write. Use BICHOK (Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard). Get an idea for how you want your story to begin, develop, and end and just get going. The details will come to you in time - don't obsess over them! J. K. Rowling didn't have every glass of butterbeer planned out before she wrote the first Harry Potter book and the Erins didn't make every character have a good backstory before they started writing Warriors! Just go for it and work through all the pain!**

**Also part of the AdOTD: Find people to write with. They can help you find inspiration with their own ideas and encourage you in your writing. No book was made by an author working by him/herself! Work _with_ people at all times if you can!**


	8. Sootpaw Takes Charge

**Annnnd… **

…**I'm back! :D I'm so excited to be back with all of you! Thanks for not being mad about me leaving for about four weeks to do NaNoWriMo. :) I promise it wasn't in vain! And yes, I did complete the 50,000 words!**

**Anyway, on to the review replies. So sorry if I miss a couple of you, it was so long ago that you reviewed!**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: Did you end up finishing your story? ;) It's so cool that you did NaNoWriMo, too!**

**ShadowHawk: Oh, yeah, you do need an email address to sign up. Oh well, maybe sometime in the future you can join! :)**

**QLKwriter: Yeah, Rainpaw didn't start out so well, did he? I know it was a short chapter, so I'm glad you still found it good!**

**MistClan505: Yes, let's hope he can adjust! Also, I think you've gotten a good idea for your new story! :) I'm excited to catch up on reading it after I post this chapter!**

**Nightfeather: I was sad, too, believe me! But now I'm back and excited to keep on going with this story! :) No spoilers on Lightwing, but yeah, I sort of wanted Ashthorn to have to make up a new warrior name on the spot, because he only had the time from when Silverpaw told him about his kits to the time when his kits entered the camp to come up with his plan to test their leadership skills. So just a generic, lame sort of warriors name it is! XD**

**Bobbie1776: Sorry you had to wait so long for this chapter! No more breaks, I promise! :P**

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><p><strong>Sootpaw's POV<strong>

As I watched Rainpaw's tail flicker through the thorn barrier, out of sight, I couldn't help but feel a pang in my chest, as though he were taking a small part of me with him, as though my heart had been ripped into three pieces – one remaining here to beat as best it could inside my own chest, while the other two followed my littermates along their dangerous and winding paths.

A flash of reddish fur caught the corner of my eye and I turned to see a bushy tail whip out of sight through the barrier. I glanced around in confusion and spotted Rustpelt gazing at me in apology. "I couldn't stop him," he said hopelessly, gesturing with a paw at the barrier through which, if I wasn't much mistaken, Foxtooth had just vanished.

I sighed, but nodded at Rustpelt. "Thank you," I meowed, trying to school my voice into sounding deeper, more commanding, like a leader's should. I took a deep breath, pushing out my chest and lifting my chin. "I'm sure Cinderpaw will send him back by sundown."

Rustpelt chortled. "You got that right," he muttered, turning around and heading back into the center of camp. "That star-struck idiot will be tripping over his own feet, he'll be trying so hard to please Cinderpaw! That she-cat is full of nothing but sarcasm and claws, if you ask me. No offense, Sootpaw," he added quickly, glancing up at me.

"None taken," I assured him.

I gazed out at the Clan as Rustpelt took his seat amongst his Clanmates again. A sudden panic of sorts seemed to give my mind a squeeze. What was I doing up here? What could I tell the Clan? They were all looking to me for some orders, so what should I do? What _could_ I do?

As I stood there, fear threatening to overcome me, Cinderpaw's voice came back to me, speaking again some of the first words she'd said out loud to me after the battle had ended, after Ashthorn had died, after we'd become leaders. _"I'm going to lead the Sunhigh border patrol and Aspentail will lead the Sundown border patrol. Rainpaw will lead the morning hunting patrol and you'll lead the afternoon hunting patrol."_

The grip panic seemed to hold around my mind seemed to loosen, allowing me to think more clearly that before. Of course. Patrols. Patrols were easy, right?

"We need a hunting patrol to leave immediately," I said in a commanding voice, resuming my role as leader. Glancing around at the cats, I searched for the right one to lead the new patrol. One face in particular caught my eye. "Larkwing," I decided. "You will lead it. Take…" Again, my eyes scanned the sea of faces, wondering who should go. Probably one of the mentors should leave, to give their apprentice a bit of hunting practice, and maybe one other warrior for extra protection? "Take Rustpelt, Scorchblaze, and Shadepaw," I decided.

The cats whose names I'd called nodded and made their way to the thorn barrier. I watched them go, Larkwing pacing sedately at the head, followed by Scorchblaze, who flexed her claws as she walked, her apprentice bouncing eagerly at her side, and Rustpelt bringing up the rear, looking determined, his eyes alight with excitement at the prospect of a hunt. I beckoned him over for a moment, and he joined me at the rock, curiosity blotting out the other emotions visible on his face.

"Can you ask Larkwing to follow Foxtooth's scent trail?" I asked him in an undertone. "I want you to bring him back with you. It wouldn't do for him to sit out by the lakeshore or something all night."

Rustpelt nodded. "I'll make sure of it," he promised. "I don't want that any more than you." And he bounded after his patrol to catch up with them.

I watched them go before turning back to face the crowd of cats. "Now for the border patrol," I continued. "Sparrowtalon, you will lead. Take… Crouchfoot, Mistheart, and Snowclaw with you." As the cats formed into a group, I wondered momentarily if I'd made the right decision, not sending an apprentice to learn where, exactly, the borders were. After a heartbeat, I shook the notion off. Dawnpaw wouldn't be going with Snowclaw because she was still too badly injured, and the younger apprentices would probably just be too young to be able to cope if the patrol was attacked again. It was essential to send a strong patrol to renew the markings composed of only warriors, especially considering what had happened yesterday with Cinderpaw's patrol.

Turning back to the cats again, I realized that there weren't actually too many cats left. There was Aspentail, flicking his tail grumpily as usual, Cherryfall, sitting next to her apprentice, Twigpaw, who was batting aimlessly at a newly fallen brown leaf, Molewhisker, who was washing his sister's ears, and Streamfrost and her apprentice, Morningpaw, who were next to Twigpaw. Morningpaw had joined her brother's leaf game out of boredom.

"Aspentail," I addressed the only senior warrior left. He flicked his ears to indicate he was listening. "You lead the hunting patrol for this afternoon. Take Molewhisker and…" I hesitated. I'd wanted Twigpaw and Morningpaw to practice their battle moves today, but there still needed to be a warrior to guard the camp entrance. Maybe if I put both apprentices with one mentor, it could still work. "Me," I decided. "I'll go with the hunting patrol. Twigpaw and Morningpaw," the apprentices abandoned their leaf game and sat up straighter, eyes bright and alert, "you two will practice your battle moves with Cherryfall today. Streamfrost, you can guard the camp."

Streamfrost nodded and bounded off immediately to the thorn barrier. With a sigh of relief now that I'd finally gotten most of today's patrols in order, I slipped off the flat rock and glanced up at the sun. It was just past Sunhigh. So that meant Dawnpaw was probably awake. I still had one thing I needed to do before I left on the hunting patrol. I had to go talk to Dawnpaw and tell her I was sorry. So, gathering up what remained of my courage – I definitely needed it – I bounded across the camp to the medicine den and, taking a deep breath, slipped inside.

The den's interior was dark. Neither Stormtuft nor Goldenpaw was there; I supposed they'd gone herb-gathering after the Clan meeting this morning. Or maybe they'd just gone to check on Amberwing. Either way, the only living form I could see was a mound of soft gray fur, like a dove's feathers.

"Dawnpaw?" I asked, and even though I spoke in a soft voice, my voice seemed to echo all around the den, as though I'd shouted it.

Dawnpaw's head came up, her ears turned backward. I couldn't tell if they were back because she was still annoyed at me or because she was trying to hear me better. Either way, she seemed to be waiting for me to say more, as she didn't say a word. I sat down in the center of the den, gazing at Dawnpaw's back, and took a deep breath to speak.

"Um… I'm sorry about what I said," I began awkwardly. "You know, what I said yesterday morning? Um… sorry it's taken this long for me to come find you. It's been… busy."

Dawnpaw's ears went slightly forward. She seemed to sigh – at least, her shoulders went up as though she'd breathed in deeply and then sank back to their original position as though she'd blown all the air out in a sigh. I waited, barely breathing as I waited for her to say something. After a few heartbeats, I was rewarded.

Dawnpaw turned halfway around, not quite looking at me, but not turning her back completely to me either, which was a definite improvement. I could see half of her face, her eye shut, her fur illuminated by a single ray of sunlight that somehow made it through the cave entrance. "I know you've been busy," she whispered. Her voice seemed to also echo around the almost empty cave, though her echo sounded somehow better than mine. It was more musical, like a whisper in a magical cave covered with gemstones. Definitely not like mine, with its rude sort of ring to it. I looked down in shame and waited for her to continue.

After another sigh, Dawnpaw turned back away from me. Suddenly, I wondered if I'd been supposed to say something. StarClan, these she-cats were so confusing with their mind games! Why couldn't they just tell us what they wanted instead of giving us these vague hints we never really ever actually got? But then she continued and I relaxed again.

"I should be the one who's sorry, Sootpaw, not you. I was the one who overreacted to what you said. You didn't mean any harm. I should really stop getting so worked up over it. Over… her."

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that. But I figured I had to say something, so I gave it a go, using what Cinderpaw had used with Rainpaw after the battle. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. "About Featherpaw? Maybe it would help to just get it all out instead of bottling it up inside. I'm guessing the two of you were close?"

Dawnpaw nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we were." She was silent for so long, I began to wonder if I should say something else before she continued. "We were closer than normal littermates, I think. Almost like you with Cinderpaw and Rainpaw," she said with a wry sort of smile. I saw half of it – she'd turned to the side again. "We'd do everything together, me and her. She and I. Us." She blinked rapidly and opened her mouth to say more, but no sound came out. So I broke in.

"I think I feel almost the same way," I meowed quietly. "With Cinderpaw and Rainpaw gone, it's… it's like I've lost a crucial part of me. It feels like it won't come back easily, even though I know they're coming back soon."

Dawnpaw nodded. "Yeah, it must be hard, losing _two_ treasured siblings. But I suppose it sort of balances out, what with you knowing they're actually coming back." She sighed and turned away again before continuing in a quieter voice than ever. "Look, Sootpaw, I'm glad you stopped by. I'm glad you had me talk about… about Featherpaw a little. But I really am tired. I – I was up for a lot of the night, remembering her. I should probably get some sleep."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, okay." I began backing away.

"Sootpaw, I really am glad you came. Thank you." Dawnpaw curled up in her nest, but before I could turn away, she gave me a smile. Sure, it was small and half-hidden by her moss, but it was still a smile, and that was something. I padded out of the medicine den feeling like maybe I wasn't completely hopeless after all.

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><p><strong>I tried to make the chapter longer than normal because you all haven't seen a post in about a month. Let me know if you like it! :)<br>**

**QOTD: Truthfully, did you have to go back and reread some of the older chapters because you'd forgotten a lot of what happened?**

**(sorry for the lame question! I'm sort of tired and really should start on homework or something... I've been procrastinating :P)**


	9. Hunting with Cinderpaw

**Oh, yeah, it's Cinderpaw's POV! :D So dawns the second day of the separation, as the trio attempts to complete their three very different tasks completely on their own! Although, I suppose, Sootpaw and Cinderpaw aren't exactly on their own…**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: Yay! I'm so glad you also won NaNoWriMo! :) Great job!**

**MistClan505: Aw, your reviews always make me smile! :) Here's another chapter for you!**

**EradrinSkyleaf: I really wanted to get another chapter out on December 1st for all of you, as NaNoWriMo ended and I said I was going to come back after November. And then homework got in the way again and so I had to wait until today to finish this chapter. :( But here it is now! And also, I'm so sorry I forgot your review! I looked back through my email and for some reason couldn't find it. :( So... does an extra-long review reply make up for it? ;)**

**Nightfeather: Yeah, but if you remember all your embarrassing moments, then you for sure won't repeat them! And I'll definitely try to make the chapters longer from now on. :) I know they were actually really short before. And the gray line thingies come in when you edit your document in FanFiction's Doc Manager when you edit your documents. I was confused about those, too, until I asked someone and they told me about them.**

**Anova00: Lucky! I was paranoid about missing a detail or two and then people would come back and say things like, "But you said it was this other way in chapter 3!" so I had to go back and recheck.**

**ShadowHawk: XD I spent too much time thinking about NaNoWriMo and all my story ideas for this story just left my mind. Don't worry, they're all coming back now, though... :)**

**Bobbie1776: I always try to make my characters more realistic. It's good to know I've finally succeeded and made Dawnpaw, a cat, more like... a human? XD I'm kidding, I get what you mean by humanizing her.**

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><p><strong>Cinderpaw's POV<strong>

The next day dawned with a sky covered in a pelt of gray clouds. That sky seemed to be perfectly in sync with my mood.

From the moment we'd woken up, Foxtooth had been talking. He chattered on and on about the forest we were padding through, the weather, how we might get rained on later, how that would affect our traveling, and what that might mean for the time we actually needed to spend getting to RiverClan's new territory. Then that started him off on a whole new tangent pondering out loud what RiverClan would be like, how they would accept us, if they would chase us out with teeth and claws or if they would welcome us with open paws, if they would be willing to help us, etc., etc., until all I really wanted to do was flatten my ears to my head and yowl at the rain-filled clouds, bringing a waterfall of raindrops down on our heads. Finally, I just couldn't take it any longer.

"I'm going to go hunt," I meowed, loud enough to be heard over Foxtooth. "We'll be needing food if we are to continue on all day."

"Oh, okay," Foxtooth said just as cheerfully as he'd been talking all morning. "I'll come with you! I wonder if we'll catch a squirrel? I do love squirrels! They've got such a wonderful flavor – that nutty sort of taste mixed in seamlessly with the juicy tenderness of a young squirrel's meat! Oh, and those young squirrels are the absolute _best_, don't you know? They're big enough to have the most meat possible without having that toughness older squirrels generally acquire over time. Do you know what I-"

"I meant I want to hunt _alone_, Foxtooth!" I half-shouted over all his babbling. "Just leave me alone! You'll scare off all the prey if you keep this up!"

Foxtooth blinked. I couldn't see where his stunned expression was coming from, much less the hurt flickering in his eyes. Couldn't he see how annoying he was being?

"Um… okay," Foxtooth murmured, his eyes downcast as he turned away. "How about I go hunt in a different part of the forest and we meet back here at Sunhigh?"

I rolled my eyes at the nearest tree. Honestly, I got the feeling _it_ cared more for me than Foxtooth here, yammering so much my ears just wanted to shrivel up and fall off onto the ground like poppy seeds from a dried poppy flower. "We can't see the sun, so how will we be able to tell if it's Sunhigh or not?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well then how about we each catch a couple of pieces of fresh-kill and meet back here after we're done?" Foxtooth asked in a small sort of voice. I glanced over at him and saw his shoulders hunched, his head hanging and his back to me. He looked downright miserable. _Serves him right,_ I thought fiercely, turning away. _It's only fair. That was exactly how he was making me feel for hours this morning; it's only fair he get a taste of his own medicine. It's only fair that I meet fire with fire._

"Fine," I said in a lofty sort of voice, sticking my nose in the air and beginning to pad off through the trees. "Meet you back here." I didn't look back over my shoulder once as I headed off through the trees.

Without Foxtooth's nonstop chatter polluting the air, I came across a mouse within what seemed like moments. Smiling to myself at the solitude, I relaxed into my hunting crouch, moving stealthily through the underbrush. Honestly, I couldn't see why I was so bad at hunting. I was pretty much the best ever at stealth and my claws were the fastest, sharpest, most perfect claws any cat could have. It was just something about the size of the prey. A mouse was so smaller than a cat. And even if there was a humongous rabbit or something, I probably couldn't even catch that. Rabbits were just too fast.

But Foxtooth would be waiting back on the invisible path through the forest, and of course I'd have to catch at least as much as him; otherwise my reputation would never survive. So, rocking my weight back onto my haunches, I fixed my eyes on my prey and leaped.

And missed. The mouse, with a squeal of terror that sounded as loud as a battle yowl, scampered off through the foliage and disappeared between the twigs of a bush. With a growl of frustration, I stuck my nose under the bush to see where it had gone, spotting within moments a small, dark hole near the roots and not a mouse to be found. Hissing under my breath, I withdrew my head from under the branches and glared around at the surrounding trees as if it was their fault I'd missed that mouse.

Whatever. I could find another. I didn't need that stupid little mouse anyway. It probably wouldn't have been that tasty anyway. Huffing out my breath irritably, I stalked away through the trees, my tail twitching angrily. Why did I have to be so hopeless at hunting? Why hadn't I told Foxtooth I'd gone scouting ahead or something? Now, that was something I could do! But I hadn't, and so I had to hunt. Great.

A scrabble of tiny claws on a tree trunk broke through the near-silent forest. I glanced sharply around, my ears swiveling from side to side, trying to place the sound. Finally, I spotted it. It was a squirrel, crawling down from a tree.

My first instinct was to leap at it then and there, but common sense told me to wait. If I was going to catch any prey at all on this hunting trip, I'd have to play this carefully. I'd have to strike at the right moment, silent and deadly as an adder. So, instead of springing, I crouched low to the ground in a perfect stalking crouch, my tail held perfectly still above the dry leaves. I almost began sliding my paws forward over the leaves, but I knew I had to play this one with even more stealth than that; the squirrel would have think it was completely safe for me have a chance at catching it. So instead of making them sound like a snake, I would have to blend my pawsteps completely into the background.

I began inching forward, digging my paws underneath the covering of leaves whenever I heard the wind rustle a branch nearby, so that the squirrel would just think the rustling of my paws was the wind. I'd never tried this tactic before, and was partly curious but mostly hopeful to see if it would work or not. It did; the squirrel didn't seem to notice there was any danger at all. It had already reached the ground and was scampering off to find some acorns or something.

So, now that I could move around without the squirrel noticing, where should I go? The wind was only blowing fitfully in the treetops, instead of on the ground (as the squirrel apparently didn't realize), so checking wind direction wouldn't matter. That meant I could theoretically ambush it anywhere, as long as it didn't take too long to reach. If I waited here long enough, the squirrel would find its meal and head on back up to its treetop nest.

Of course! An idea blossomed into life in my mind. The squirrel would most likely run back to its tree when it got startled, so if I could get around to just beside the tree and then throw something over to the side, the squirrel would run right back to its tree – and I would be waiting there to intercept it.

It was a brilliant plan – the masterpiece of all plans. I grinned to myself and began the agonizingly slow process of stalking over to the tree trunk. It was a whole badger-length away, and the squirrel had nearly finished with its gathering when I finally made it.

Crouching in the shadows beside the tree trunk, I felt around for something to throw. For a moment, I felt panic as my fumbling paws felt nothing but leaves and roots deeply embedded in the hard ground. Then, thank StarClan, I found something small, round, and hard. An acorn.

_I suppose it's true that the acorn falls far from the tree,_ I thought, smirking to myself. _That is, when a cat is there to give it a little help._ I picked up the acorn between my teeth and, making sure the squirrel's back was turned, gave my head a violent shake and let go. I watched, my heart racing with adrenaline, as the acorn sailed high into the air and landed with a distinct rustle amongst the bushes from which I'd just come from.

For about half a heartbeat that seemed to last seasons, the squirrel didn't seem to notice the rustle. I feared it had all been for nothing until it sat up, tiny ears twitching, and abandoned its nut as it turned 180 degrees and sprinted for the tree. And right into my waiting paws.

I sank my teeth into the squirrel's neck and it went limp. Standing up, I surveyed my catch with a little less than downright awe. I had actually done it. My made-up, on-the-spot plan to catch a quick, tree-hugging squirrel had actually worked! For a moment, I had the crazy urge to yowl my victory to the sky. Then I remembered that Foxtooth was also hunting in these woods and he would probably hear me, as well as any other prey that happened to be around these parts. So, shutting my jaws firmly against the exultant cry bubbling up inside me, I picked up the squirrel and, digging a shallow sort of hole in the ground, I buried the squirrel for later and cleared the spot of leaves, placing the nut the squirrel had dropped on top as a marker. Then, I headed off to try hunting some more.

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><p>The rest of my hunting trip didn't go as well as the squirrel, but rather as well as the mouse. I came across a sparrow and a thrush, but both ended up flying off with loud alarm calls to any other prey that happened to be around. After the second time that happened, I was ready to scream with frustration, so I figured it was best if I just headed back to meet Foxtooth. It must be about time by now.<p>

I returned to the little clearing where I'd caught the squirrel, found the nut marker, and dug it up. Then I proceeded back to the invisible path we'd been following through the trees.

Sure enough, Foxtooth was waiting for me back at the path. He glanced up as soon as he heard my pawsteps, and even though we still couldn't see each other, he cried out, "Cinderpaw! You're back! You'll never guess what I caught!"

I rounded a thick tree and saw Foxtooth sitting on the ground, three pieces of prey in front of him. He was looking down at his pitiful imitation of a fresh-kill pile, gently prodding each morsel with a claw. "I caught two mice and a vole," he announced as though it was the finest catch any cat could ever hope of having. "I… um… thought you would like the vole," he said in a slightly quieter voice, bending down and picking up the fattest rodent. "I know you like voles."

Finally, after chattering on for _ages_, he looked up at me, the vole dangling from his mouth. Then, it wasn't dangling from his mouth anymore, but instead lying on the ground as his jaw dropped. "Is… is that a _squirrel?_" he whispered, his eyes wide and awed. "You managed to catch a… _squirrel?_"

"Yep," I muttered, flinging it on the ground. "I… I couldn't find any other prey. And you know why? It's because you scared them all away with your talk!"

I knew it wasn't good to lie, but Foxtooth's reaction was completely worth it. His eyes seemed to lose their glow and he looked away, down at the ground, his mouth shutting noiselessly once again. He closed his eyes, grimaced, and murmured, "I didn't mean to, Cinderpaw. Honest, I didn't."

"And a fat lot of good it did us," I muttered, snatching up the vole and devouring it in a few famished bites. "We'll have to just take some fresh-kill with us."

I picked up one of his mice and started off along the path. I knew I'd been sort of mean, but it was worth it if it would make him shut up for once. Honestly, his voice was just getting so annoying!

"Cinderpaw?"

"What?" I growled, spinning around to glare at him.

Foxtooth seemed to recoil slightly as he saw my expression. _And serve him right,_ I thought viciously. "Um… can I eat the squirrel you caught?" he asked in a barely audible voice, as though he thought anything louder would set me off. To be completely honest, it probably would.

"Fine," I muttered, rolling my eyes as I turned around again. "But make it quick and catch up to me before nightfall. Otherwise you might get eaten by something. Like a fox." I smirked at my own joke and began bounding along through the forest again, looking forward for once to a few completely Foxtooth-free hours.

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><p><strong>Well, that was pretty fun to write. Sorry there's not been any AdOTDs lately - I haven't really been able to think of anything to put for them. :( Anyway, on to the AOTD and the QOTD!<br>**

**AOTD: Yes, I did. I forget if I said this in the last chapter, but I most definitely did. I forgot all the little details of what I'd written before and where I'd left off and everything. So I went back and sort of skimmed through the chapters again.**

**QOTD: Are you on Cinderpaw's side and think Foxtooth is just a loudmouthed idiot or are you on Foxtooth's side and think Cinderpaw's being overly mean to him?**


	10. Rainpaw's Capture

**Sorry for not uploading for a long time! I was pretty busy last weekend and I still had no inspiration for what Rainpaw could do other than walking around and being boring. But I finally thought of something, so here it is! (Well, after the review replies. :P We can't forget those!)**

**EradrinSkyleaf: The "dialogue" between you and Foxtooth made me laugh. ;D And I completely get what you're thinking about Cinderpaw vs. Foxtooth – the story is written from Cinderpaw's POV, but Foxtooth… just… doesn't really deserve that? Yeah, basically. XD**

**MistClan505 (or should I say Starfrost515?): Well, here's more, more, MORE! XD And you're not the only one who can feel both sides of the argument. I think a lot of people were actually like that.**

**Nightfeather: Yep! And Cinderpaw and Sootpaw getting killed by… cinders and soot? Yeah, that wouldn't work too well, I think. :P **

**ShadowHawk: I know, right? And both infelinely and incatinly cracked me up. XD**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: Yeah, it really is tough to choose, isn't it? Foxtooth can be annoying, but Cinderpaw was being mean. So… yeah, tough decision, at least for me.**

**Anova00: Well, I do believe you were in the minority. But it is easier to see the conflict as Foxtooth being annoying and Cinderpaw being the victim, as it's from her POV.**

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><p><strong>Rainpaw's POV<strong>

The next morning, I continued my journey down the hill, the sky dark and cloudy overhead, promising rain later that afternoon. I wended my way through the bushes, my paws light on the dry twigs and leaves on the ground, careful not to make too much noise. It was only after I'd been traveling for about a half an hour that I felt the beginnings of hunger grip my stomach.

Oh, right, I had to eat, too. I'd almost forgotten about that. But the bushes around me must be full of prey, right? They must be positively bursting with mice and voles and shrews and things. So finding some breakfast should be easy!

I put my nose to the ground, sniffing around for a prey trail. Some sort of prey had to have passed by here sometime in the past day or so, right?

Apparently not. The ground was as bare as a deforested hill, with not a prey-scent to be found. So I raised my nose to the wind, sniffing, searching, scenting the air. Maybe the breeze could carry the scent of a juicy piece of fresh-kill to my muzzle. My stomach growled louder. _Maybe that breeze could just carry me the scent of a normal, scrawny-looking mouse,_ I thought ruefully, _as thinking about a juicy mouse makes me hungrier than ever._

I caught the whiff of something meaty and yummy. I padded forward, cautiously at first, then with increasing speed as my stomach fueled my paws. I was just so hungry! How could I not have noticed it before?

All of a sudden, I burst out of the bushes and into a clearing. I skidded to a halt, my paws slipping on the ground suddenly devoid of grass, and stared in disbelief at the scene in front of me.

Monsters were trundling back and forth, their yellow hides gleaming in the dim light still able to shine through the thick clouds. Twolegs swarmed over and around them like crows over crowfood lying by the side of a Thunderpath. The ground was completely churned up, almost like there had been a major battle here during a heavy rainstorm. Trees were lying in stacks, piled up like a stack of fresh-kill. Beside them, clearly visible even through the noise and swarms of Twolegs, was a long, flat thing spread with pinkish meat. So that was what had smelled so good from back amongst the bushes.

My stomach grumbled. I glanced around nervously at the Twolegs and their Monsters. Sure, the food smelled amazing, but it was just sitting out there in plain sight of the Twolegs. What if they spotted me? What if they caught me?

But the smell wafting from the food was so tantalizing, and the Twolegs looked so busy with whatever they were doing, and the bushes really weren't that far away from the food. If the Twolegs came for me, I'd just run and hide inside them. Twolegs were so slow and clumsy, I'd get away for sure! So, keeping my tail low and my ears pricked, using every stealth technique Cinderpaw had ever taught me just in case, I made my way around the edge of the clearing to the food.

The pink meat emitted a tantalizing odor that grew stronger and stronger as I prowled closer and closer. My mouth watered and my eyes remained fixed on the food, parting my jaws so that I could almost taste it. I just couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it, the delectable juices filling my mouth as I ripped off a huge chunk, chewing and swallowing to fill my empty belly. I was suddenly ravenous – I just _had_ to have food _now_. There was no way I'd be able to find another piece of fresh-kill quickly enough to eat before I starved if I didn't have a bite of this meat. It was like it was all meant just for me.

I reached the meat and crouched down beside it, my eyes wide, staring greedily at the meat. It was all for me, I was sure of it, and I was going to sit here until I was done eating, for better or for worse. I just couldn't live if I didn't take a bite of this meat from StarClan. I opened my jaws, ready to take a huge bite.

"Rainpaw! No!"

I sat bolt upright, staring wildly around. Who had said that? Who had called out my name? Who had distracted me from my meal?

A flash of golden fur flickered out from behind an uprooted tree, visible only for about half a second before vanishing again. But it was enough. That voice plus that fur, as well as the fact that the cat in question already knew my name combined to form only one cat it could have been.

"Hyperion?" I called out uncertainly. "Is that you?"

A reply came at once, but it wasn't one of affirmation. It just contained one word: "Run!"

I spun around. As if they'd sprung from thin air, five Twolegs were racing at me from behind. I gasped, trying to run backwards away from them, but I hit the platform. It was a trap! They'd set up the meat so that it would be impossible to resist, then they'd come out of nothing to capture me!

"Run, Rainpaw! Run!"

Hyperion's voice cut through my panic like it had my meat-obsessed fervor earlier. I kicked out with my hind legs, leaping into a sprint and reaching my full speed within heartbeats. Dashing across the clearing, heading straight for the bushes, I heard the Twolegs whistling and calling out in loud, harsh sounding voices. I felt a spurt of triumph. They must not have realized how fast I could be.

But that victory lasted only a heartbeat. Out of the bushes came a sudden growling, barking, and whining. I skidded to a halt just as a huge, monstrous, brown dog with fangs twice as long as a claw and five times as thick erupted from the bushes. It soared through the air, and its dark eyes fixed right on me. It landed on the churned-up ground in front of me and began slowly prowling toward me. At its sides emerged an entire pack – three dogs on each side of their leader – who all followed its lead and began stalking toward me.

I turned back around to run from the dogs, only to find the Twolegs had somehow managed to close the immense distance between us in heartbeats. My strangled yowl rent the air as I felt the dogs' hot breath on my heels and felt cold, smooth paws enclose me from either side, lifting me easily into the air and flipping me almost upside-down to reveal my vulnerable belly. And, even though I couldn't fight to save my life, I began fighting, trying to save my life.

But my claws, however hard they ripped at the Twolegs' paws, they couldn't penetrate their thick, slippery sort of covering. The Twolegs carried me, hissing, spitting, and wriggling all the way to try and free myself, over around the stack of uprooted trees. As we rounded the tangle of thick, brown roots, I finally caught a glimpse of where we were headed. It was a stack of black wire cages, most of them containing cats, all of whom were spitting and snarling, scratching at the locks and pacing back and forth in the tiny spaces.

The Twolegs shoved me in a lower cage. Originally, I'd thought this would be better than the cages above me – all they had for a floor were thin wire things, intertwining over empty space. At least the bottom cages had the ground beneath them to help support the cat's paws. However, as the Twolegs slammed the cage door shut and twisted shut the lock, I became aware of all the stressed shedding of the cats above me. Cream, brown, and orange fur rained down on me, catching in my fluffy fur and tie-dying me to have oddly colored spots. From these tufts of fur, I could easily smell the fear-scent of the cats above.

The Twolegs retreated, blending into the crowd swarming the yellow Monsters within heartbeats of reaching them. A moment later, I spotted a sleek, pale ginger form slinking around the pile of trees. He stopped right in front of my cage and gazed down at me, his golden eyes glimmering. "Hello, Rainpaw," he said, dipping his head to me. "I do believe you've grown."

"Hyperion," I meowed, my mouth curving almost involuntarily into a grin. "Hey."

Hyperion smirked a little. "Hey, indeed," he said softly. "How have you been? How are Cinderpaw and Sootpaw?"

"They're fine," I said warmly. "Well, they're busy, at least."

"Busy with what?"

"Well, Sootpaw's in charge of the entire force of cats fighting for peace at the lake," I recounted, "and Cinderpaw's searching for RiverClan, the lost Clan."

"In charge of the entire force of peaceful cats, eh?" Hyperion said, looking impressed. "And searching for a lost Clan. Well, well, you three have grown to do bigger and better things, haven't you? What are you doing, Rainpaw?"

"I'm going back to the forest," I admitted. "I'm going to see if the cats there will want to come back to the lake to help us win one last battle for peace."

"Huh," Hyperion said, nodding. "Well, that's pretty important, isn't it? I guess you would probably be able to continue if you hadn't just gotten trapped in a cage."

"Yeah." I reached my paw through the bars, trying to grip the lock. "That would be nice. Only I'm not sure if I'll be able to."

"Ah, don't worry," Hyperion reassured me. "I can undo this lock."

"You can?" I gasped.

"Keep your voice down!" Hyperion hissed. "Yes, I can, but not if all the cats are screaming at me to let them out next, drawing all the Twolegs' attention to me!"

"Sorry," I whispered.

"It's okay," Hyperion muttered, lifting his paw and beginning to claw at the catch. "Just make sure you're quiet about this from now on."

"Okay." I waited near the middle of the cage, occasionally shaking myself vigorously to get rid of the cat hair still drifting down from above. Finally, after what felt like moons, Hyperion pulled the cage door open and stood aside, allowing me to leap out. "Thanks!" I purred, smiling up at him. I'd grown a lot since I'd last seen him, but I was still smaller than him.

"No problem," Hyperion said offhandedly.

"I'm just so lucky you were here!" I said sincerely. "If you weren't, then I bet I would have stayed captured by those Twolegs for _moons!_" I paused for a moment, frowning. "Why were you here, anyway? I thought you lived in the Twolegplace?"

"Yeah, I do, normally," Hyperion confirmed. "Only I'd heard about this cat-roundup going on here. I've got a couple of friends here who were caught a few sunrises ago. I was trying to find out where they were when I spotted you sneaking across the clearing with your eyes fixed on that meat."

"Oh," I said. I stood to the side, close to the uprooted trees, watching as Hyperion began pacing back and forth, searching through the cages. A few of the cats had already noticed he was there and had just let me out of my cage. "Hurry up!" I hissed quietly at him. "Or the others will notice what you're doing!"

"All right, all right," Hyperion muttered, his eyes flicking from cage to cage. "Just after I find – aha." He'd stopped about three-fourths of the way down the cage wall, staring at a particular cage on the second row of cages. "Here they are." He raised his voice and called out, "Aspenpaw! Alderpaw!"

I moved out farther away from the cages so I could see clearer. Looking from Hyperion to the cages, I was able to follow his gaze to a cage on the second layer containing two apprentice-aged cats. One, the tom, cowered in the middle, while the she-cat peered out through the cage door. "Hyperion!" she gasped. "Is it really you?"

Hyperion grinned. "It sure is. Are you ready to get out of there?" Both apprentices nodded vigorously. "Okay then, stand back, Aspenpaw." The she-cat backed away to stand next to her brother as Hyperion leaped into the air, landing on the cages with a clatter of metal on metal.

I glanced back nervously at the Twolegs around the Monsters. A few of them, even through the racket the monsters made, appeared to have heard Hyperion and had turned to stare in their direction. "Hyperion, hurry!" I yowled over the shrieks of the trapped cats.

Hyperion nodded and began clawing at the lock. "I'm working on it!" he called back. "Just tell me when they get close, okay? We'll have to make sure we don't get caught!"

I nodded in reply, though Hyperion's eyes were fixed on the lock, and glanced back over at the Twolegs. They had started across the clearing.

It took Hyperion much longer than I would've liked, but he managed to finally claw the lock off of the cage door. It thudded to the ground and he let go of the wire mesh, landing on the ground and turning to see the Twolegs already about a tree-length away. "Hurry!" he called to the two apprentices before racing over to me and beckoning me forward. "Let's get going," he panted. "Aspenpaw and Alderpaw will catch up."

I bounded after Hyperion, racing along behind him, following the snake of pale gold that was his tail. I only chanced one glance behind me at the two other apprentices, just long enough to make sure they got away safely, before turning back around and fixing my eyes in front of me, making sure I didn't trip.

And so off we ran, the four of us, into the Twolegplace ahead.

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><p><strong>Okay, I know it was an abrupt ending, but I really wanted to get this chapter out today. Sorry for the bad ending! Oh, and I hope you don't mind me asking two QOTDs today. XD<strong>

**AOTD: It was actually a pretty hard decision, but I must say I'm on Foxtooth's side. Maybe it's just because I just couldn't imagine being so mean to someone else… but it's still so much fun writing from Cinderpaw's POV. ;) Yeah, I'm strange like that I guess.**

**QOTD1: Who do you think Aspenpaw and Alderpaw are? What significance will they have in the story?**

**QOTD2: What's the current song stuck in your head?**


	11. Amberwing's Kits

**Wow, these longer chapters really do take longer, don't they? Well, at least this one's not out as late as the other one was! ;) And now on to some review replies!**

**EradrinSkyleaf: Yeeesssss, meeeeaaaattttt foooooorrrrr Raaaiiiinnnpaaaawwww! XD I actually like The Siblings; maybe I'll start calling them that from now on.**

**ShadowHawk: Yes, they are Clan cats, or at least they're sort of Clan cats. I've never heard of Animals, though. So… here I go to look it up! :P**

**Anova00: Oh, lucky, you don't have a song stuck in your head! I listen to so much music I usually have some sort of song stuck in my head. Well, unless if there's something more interesting to pay attention to.**

**Nightfeather: Good luck on your cello concert! Well, it's probably happened by now, so I hope you did well! Also, I love how you always give me longer reviews to read. It's nice to get on my email and read an extra-long review. :)**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: Huh, what gives you that idea? ;) And you play for your church's band? That's really cool! I used to play an instrument but I didn't like to practice and eventually lost interest. Writing's more my thing, as I'm sure you can tell.**

**QLKwriter: Ah, of course all the bad ones are stuck in your head! They always do that, don't they? And Cinderpaw's POV is definitely the most fun to write – she's so opinionated and outgoing but still tries to let others see who she wants them to see.**

**Starfrost515: So far you've been the only one to think that Aspenpaw and Alderpaw will cause trouble. :P Maybe there's a reason most people think they're help, or maybe they're just all going to be surprised later…**

**Bobbie1776: Oh, I think I sort of purposefully typed "blank space" into the last chapter. Was that what got it stuck in your head? If so, sorry!**

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><p><strong>Sootpaw's POV<strong>

The next day dawned dim and dreary. Clouds had been blown into one huge, overlapping mass, holding up a lake's worth of water. I sat at the top of the Highledge, staring up at the sky, wondering when it would rain and if Cinderpaw and Rainpaw would be safe and sheltered during the length of the storm, as well as Foxtooth. Rustpelt hadn't been able to find his brother the previous afternoon, and we'd all assumed he'd followed Cinderpaw. The poor, lovesick fool.

Dawnpaw padded out of the medicine den below, her pelt fluffed up against a sudden chilly breeze caught on the rim of the hollow and forced downward. She glanced up at me and smiled. My pelt felt warm as I grinned and waved my tail at her. Maybe I was more like Foxtooth than I thought.

But I couldn't think about Dawnpaw right now. The two of us weren't the only ones awake; the warriors and apprentices had all exited their dens and were stretching and yawning, blinking sleepily and glancing up at me to see if I was assigning patrols yet. I probably should get onto that. So, casting one last, worried glance at the sky, I bounded down the slope of fallen rocks and into the clearing.

As I leaped up onto the flattish rock I'd organized the patrols yesterday from, I quickly scanned the cats present. After doing a once-over and glancing quickly at the entrance, I figured out that most of the cats were here, with the exceptions of Crouchfoot, who was guarding the entrance, and the dawn patrol, which consisted of Larkwing, Molewhisker, Streamfrost, and Morningpaw.

"Patrols!" I called out, though the announcement was hardly necessary as most of the Clan was already gathered before me. "For the first hunting patrol of the day, Cherryfall and Scorchblaze can go with their apprentices. Then, for the Sunhigh border patrol, I'd like you to lead, Aspentail. Take… take Sparrowtalon, Snowclaw, and Rustpelt." The cats nodded and stepped off to one side so I could see who was left.

It wasn't promising. Not at all. The only cat left was Mistheart, sitting there and looking calmly up at me. "Erm…" I said uncertainly, "Mistheart, you can replace Crouchfoot on guard duty. As for the other patrols, I'll just have to wait for more cats to return before I-" My words were drowned out by a loud screech emitting from the nursery. Every head turned and every pair of eyes was fixed on the entrance, through which only a patch of dusty floor and a single empty nest were visible.

"Out of the way!" A yowl sounded from the other side of the clearing, the speaker blocked from view by the cats set to patrol the borders at Sunhigh. The Clan parted like darkness before a sunrise to reveal a black figure, who, as soon as his path was clear, raced across the clearing, heading for the nursery. At his heels dashed a slightly smaller yellow-orange she-cat, her jaws full of herbs spilling haphazardly from either side of her mouth. I leaped off the rock and hurried back across the clearing, scooping up the herbs dropped and bounding to the nursery, into which the two medicine cats had already vanished. With one deep breath, I poked my head inside.

Amberwing lay sprawled in the largest nest, her jaws parted in an anguished shriek of pain. At her side crouched Smokefoot and Goldenpaw, both speaking in low voices despite the racket their patient was making.

"There should be a large litter," Goldenpaw was saying, her paw pressed against Amberwing's bloated belly.

Smokefoot nodded. "Yes, I think so. Keep breathing, Amberwing. You're doing fine."

"Um, you dropped these," I meowed, trying to be heard over Amberwing's renewed yowls. "Out in the clearing." I let the herbs drift gently down onto the ground.

At once, Smokefoot was in front of me, glaring at me. I backed away hastily, withdrawing my head from the nursery entrance. "Don't disturb the queen," he hissed. "She can't become anxious or else it will be a hard birth. So quit yelling and keep your nose out of here!"

I backed hurriedly away as Smokefoot's piercing glare was turned away and he returned to Amberwing's side. I did not want to mess with the medicine stuff – I had no clue about any of that.

A warm pelt brushed up against mine; turning, I saw it was Dawnpaw. "He can be nice, you know." She nodded at the nursery.

"Who, Smokefoot? Are you kidding?"

Dawnpaw rolled her eyes. "Believe me, I've spent so long in that den, I know that cat through and through. He really does have a soft side."

"I'll take your word for it," I muttered, glancing back at the nursery. "He scares me."

Dawnpaw bumped her shoulder against mine. "I think you just got in the way of him taking care of a patient, is all," she said playfully. "Now if you do that, he'll transform into a snarling badger."

"Yep, I can definitely see that," I said, ramming my head into her shoulder. She tumbled onto her side, laughing, but then she stopped abruptly. I froze in the act of trying to pin her down, looking anxiously down at her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she said, trying to push herself up. However much she tried, though, she couldn't quite manage to get to her paws again and flopped back onto the ground, panting.

"Here," I said, circling around to her back and pushing my nose under her back. "I'll help you." Dawnpaw tried to get up again, and this time, with my help, managed to scramble awkwardly to her feet. She sat down heavily, leaning down to lick her belly wound. "What's wrong?" I asked nervously. If I'd somehow managed to break open Dawnpaw's wound again, Smokefoot would shred me alive and wear my pelt as an extra Leafbare coat.

"I think I shouldn't be playing around yet," she meowed uncertainly, examining her wound minutely. "It doesn't look like it's bleeding, but maybe I should go lie down just in case." Her eyes met mine and I knew we were thinking the same thing. Dawnpaw couldn't stay hurt for longer than she had to. And if that meant letting her sleep and lie around all day instead of having fun and play-fighting with her, then that's what would happen.

Dawnpaw touched noses with me. "Let me know when Amberwing's kits arrive," she said in a soft voice. "I want to see them."

"Okay," I murmured before she turned and padded away, back to the medicine den. I watched her tail vanish between the hanging brambles before I turned back to the nursery. But as my gaze swung around again to fix on the nursery, I was distracted by a sudden commotion occurring at the camp entrance.

It seemed the dawn patrol had returned. Four cats, with Molewhisker in the lead, erupted through the thorn barrier and pounded through the camp. Larkwing, Streamfrost, and Morningpaw slowed to a halt amongst their fellow Clanmates, but Molewhisker continued on, almost running into the nursery wall before he stopped. "Amberwing!" he panted. "Amberwing!"

It was lucky he was so out of breath, because he couldn't yowl like I was sure he wanted to. Instead, his sides heaving, he could do little more than speak normally. Then again, those two words were apparently too much talking anyway, because no sooner had Molewhisker said them than Smokefoot shoved his head through the entrance, glaring at Molewhisker.

"Quiet!" he hissed in an undertone. "Amberwing needs peace and quiet if she's going to kit this side of the moon!"

"But she's my mate!" Molewhisker protested, trying to shove his way into the nursery past Smokefoot.

"But I don't care!" Smokefoot half snarled. "You'll make her anxious and then the kitting will go wrong and it will be all your fault!"

"No it-"

But Smokefoot had apparently gotten fed up with Molewhisker. "I need peace and quiet in here if I'm going to do my job right," he growled in a low voice. "I need someone brave and strong to guard the entrance and make sure no other cats disturb me."

I wasn't exactly sure why Smokefoot was suddenly complimenting Molewhisker, or at least I was until Molewhisker stood up straighter, lifted his chin, and said, "I won't let a single cat pass these walls. You can count on me for that. No cats may disturb Amberwing's kitting."

Goldenpaw's soft meow broke through Molewhisker's speech. "Smokefoot!" she whispered. "I think she's almost ready!"

"Okay, Goldenpaw, I'll be there in a moment," Smokefoot replied. I was stunned by his sudden transformation from ferocious defender of his territory, which at that moment was the nursery, to a gentle and even fatherly sort of demeanor when he spoke to Goldenpaw. I wondered briefly if Smokefoot considered Goldenpaw to be as good as his adopted daughter, as medicine cats weren't allowed to have kits. Did medicine cat apprentices become the "kits" of the medicine cats?

Smokefoot, after one last warning glare in Molewhisker's direction, turned and disappeared back inside the nursery. I wondered what was going on in there – I hadn't heard any yowls from Amberwing in a long time. I wondered if she was all right in there.

Then I realized that the sun had almost reached its highest point. It had been that long since Amberwing started kitting and still the patrols hadn't left. Quickly, I bounded over to the cats and called out, "Hunting Patrol and Sunhigh Border Patrol, you need to get going!"

"Oh, right!" Cherryfall beckoned to Twigpaw and Scorchblaze to Mistpaw and the four cats bounded out of the camp, up through the thorn tunnel. They were followed almost immediately by Aspentail, who padded sedately after the hunting patrol, followed by Sparrowtalon, Snowclaw, and Rustpelt.

After the two patrols left, the camp seemed strangely empty. I glanced around and realized the only cats present were Mistheart, who guarded the camp entrance, only her gray-furred back visible through the entrance; Crouchfoot, who had decided to remain in the clearing rather than head back to the warriors' den and was currently snoozing in a ray of sunlight; Larkwing, who sat by the fresh-kill pile, her eyes roving over the small leftovers from the previous night, trying to decide what to eat; Streamfrost, who crouched in the center of the clearing, teaching Morningpaw some sort of battle move; and Morningpaw, who eagerly copied her mentor but was a little too enthusiastic and kept tumbling head-over-heels. All of us were waiting for Amberwing's kits to arrive.

And arrive they did. Not even fifteen minutes later, Goldenpaw slipped out of the nursery and hurried over to stand on the flattish rock I always used to organize patrols. Clambering up onto its sun-warmed surface, she took a deep breath and called out, "Amberwing's kits are here!"

The Clan seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief at her words. Molewhisker seemed almost about to pass out at the news. He sank onto his rear end as Goldenpaw continued. "She has given birth to four healthy kits: three toms and one she-kit."

I smiled to myself. Four healthy kits. Four new additions to the Clan. I just hoped they would survive the next quarter moon.

Smokefoot had also exited the nursery. With a nod of congratulations to Molewhisker, he joined his apprentice on the flat rock. "I have an announcement to make," he meowed in a loud voice to be heard over the joyful murmurings that had broken out across the camp. The cats went quiet once more, gazing up at him and Goldenpaw. Apparently Goldenpaw hadn't been expecting this, because she was also staring curiously at her mentor.

"Goldenpaw has learned enough to be made a full medicine cat."

Goldenpaw's jaw dropped. She stared incredulously at Smokefoot, as though hardly believing her ears.

"It is time she received her new name and full responsibilities. She is a more than capable medicine cat." He dipped his head to Goldenpaw and I was surprised to see he was smiling. Now that had to happen only every once in a blue moon! "Tonight we will go to the Moonpool and Goldenpaw will be welcomed by StarClan as a full medicine cat!"

The Clan cheered, although they made sure to keep their meows quiet. Apparently Smokefoot had drilled the quiet voices around his patients so often that to LeopardClan it was second-nature to use medicine-den voices around him.

"Do I hear cheering?" I turned to see Dawnpaw yawning widely behind me, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She must have been woken up by the Clan's voices.

"Yep," I grinned. "Amberwing's kits are here. Do you want to see them?"

That seemed to wake Dawnpaw up. "Do I ever!" she purred.

Together we bounded toward the nursery. Molewhisker wasn't sitting outside anymore – I supposed he'd joined his mate inside the den.

I was right. As Dawnpaw and I pushed our way into the den, we spotted, curled together in the dim light, Molewhisker and Amberwing. At Amberwing's belly lay four tiny bundles of fur. Three were pale orange like her, but one was brown and cream like its father.

"Hello, Amberwing," I meowed softly, padding cautiously over to her. "How are you doing?"

Amberwing smiled up at me, though her eyelids drooped with sleepiness. "I'm fine," she murmured. "Tired, but fine. And, of course," she added, dropping her gaze back down to her litter, "I've got these four now."

"Have you figured out names for them yet?" Dawnpaw asked, crouching down to sniff at one of the orange kits. It squirmed and squealed under her nose and she pulled back.

Amberwing and Molewhisker both purred in amusement. Untwining her tail from Molewhisker's, Amberwing flicked her tail around to touch the squirming kit. "This one is Lionkit. He was the last to be born, but he really does have a loud roar, doesn't he?"

Dawnpaw purred. "Yes, he does."

Amberwing moved on to the next kit. "And this one is Sunkit. He's the third oldest."

I smiled at the name. "Sunkit. A very optimistic name, don't you think?"

Amberwing dipped her head in acknowledgement of my words. "Yes, indeed," she said before touching her tail to the third kit, also a pale orange color. "This one is little Birchkit. He was the first to be born."

Birchkit wriggled under his mother's touch, turning to swat her tail aside as though it were tickling him. All four of us erupted into purrs of amusement.

"And this last one," Amberwing continued after her purrs died away, "is Maplekit. She's the second oldest and the only one to have inherited Molewhisker's fur."

"They're all so cute!" Dawnpaw squealed. "I just can't believe how small they all are!"

"Well, they'll grow, for sure," Molewhisker broke in. His eyes glimmered with pride as he looked down at his kits. "And they'll become the best warriors this Clan's ever seen."

"Of course they will," Amberwing purred, leaning back to touch noses with her mate, her tail twining again with his.

"Come on, let's leave them in peace," Dawnpaw whispered in my ear.

I nodded and together we headed for the nursery entrance. Just before I left the den, however, I turned back for one last glance at the happy family. I couldn't help but wonder if they would be this happy after a moon or so, when NightClan was sure to attack once more.

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><p><strong>Dun dun duuuuuun!<br>**

**AOTD: For weeks now it's been Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked. Anyone know that song?**

**QOTD: Another random question! ;) Are you going anywhere for Winter Break?  
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	12. The Rogue Loner

**EDIT: I tried to upload this last night, but FanFiction was down or something. Thanks to my two newest reviewers for taking the time to read my story! :D**

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><p><strong>My cat just hopped up onto my lap, it's past midnight, and I'm going to start the next chapter. Emphasis on start. Emphasis on going to bed soon because I'm actually really tired. I'll probably just do the review replies tonight and finish the chapter tomorrow. The review replies actually take a lot of time! :O Pretty unexpected, at least for me, when I started doing them. But they're fun, so there you go. I still do them. ;)<strong>

**EradrinSkyleaf: Yeees, kittens are so cute! :D And I'm actually not too fond of flying on airplanes – they mess up my body's sleep-eat schedule and makes me feel sort of sick. It's not airsick, it's more… travelsick? I think.**

**Anova00: Oh, wow, that is lucky! Do you go to the mountains to ski or snowboard? Personally I prefer sledding, but skiing is always fun, too.**

**QLKwriter: Well, at least you're getting snow! Then again, if you are getting snow, then you probably live somewhere more north so you're used to snow and it's not as special like it is where I live. So… I guess the snow would be bad? But at least it looks pretty, right? ;) I don't know, I just really love snow for some strange reason, even though it comes with bitter cold and Summer's really my favorite season.**

**Starfrost515: Yeah, I figured Smokefoot and Goldenpaw were sort of just characters by name at that point, so I wanted to give them a bit of character. Also, Smokefoot just seemed good to be sort of grumpy. XD Semi-spoiler (what is this madness? I'm giving away spoilers?) none of the kits die in the rest of this book. I'm really not that heartless, as much as it may have seemed at the end of the last book, with Silverdapple and… *sniff* Yep.**

**Nightfeather: I remember my brother once had to go to the ER and get staples in the back of his head because he fell on the corner of a table. XD Sunkit was named after the sun, the source of warmth and comfort and all things good, and he turns evil? That would be pretty ironic. *pins on "I got through Nightfeather's review" button***

**ShadowHawk: You should look up Defying Gravity, it's a great song! :) I hope everything's all right after the storm, though. Storms can be vicious beasts like badgers or Nightstar. (yeah, I just had to tie that in to my story. :P Wow, me) I never used to go anywhere before my family moved and then we started traveling everywhere every long weekend we had, though that may have also been because of my swim meets. But I must say, I do enjoy spending time at home with my family. So either traveling or staying home can be nice. You know what I mean? (I hope?)**

**Scarletpool: Yes, you are my newest reviewer. Thank you so much again for taking the time to read my story! It really means a lot to me. :) And about Rainpaw, he's pretty busy grieving for Silverdapple at the moment, but maybe in the future there could be another she-cat…**

**The Age of Awesomeness: Wow, you're my second newest reviewer! And I'm glad to know that you read the first book first, so you're all caught up. :) Thank you so much again for taking the time to read my story! It really means a lot to me.**

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><p><strong>Cinderpaw's POV<strong>

Rain.

Of course it had to rain. Just when we had left the forest, too, and were starting to head farther upstream, out of the sheltering trees and foliage!

I growled as I slogged forward, rain dripping off my whiskers, my paws encased in blocks of mud, my ears flattened against the downpour. Foxtooth, unfortunately, had caught up with me just as I exited the forest. Luckily, though, he seemed to have gotten the hint and was staying as quiet as a rabbit. Well, if the rabbit was cornered it would make a racket loud enough to scare the birds for about a mile around, but Foxtooth, surprisingly, wasn't acting like that. His head was bowed against the driving rain, his reddish fur darkened to a rust color, almost brown, like the color of the tree bark we'd left behind in the sheltering forest.

The river roared and rushed beside me, splashing and tumbling downstream, dragging branches and leaves and even huge logs along with it. Man, was I glad I didn't have to cross that monstrous snake. At least it hadn't been this turbulent when I'd had to cross earlier with Foxtooth.

I growled under my breath, spitting rainwater out of my mouth. StarClan, I hated water. Why did we have to travel through this mess anyway?

Oh, right. How could I have forgotten? Sootpaw and Rainpaw were counting on me to bring back RiverClan. It was very likely that if I didn't return with reinforcements, NightClan would wipe us out. I thought of Sootpaw, of his crush on Dawnpaw, of his broken expression when he saw her taken down in battle, of his vengeful glare as he took on her murderer, as he was sliced down just as she'd been, to lie in the crimson dust beside her, his last breath fading away as his eyes glazed over and his spirit left his body. I thought of Rainpaw, with his grief, still so strong, for his lost love, his eyes lighting up with a burning fury as he attacked the Clan that had taken her away, of his hopeless skills no match for the fearsome NightClan warriors, of him knocked to the ground to die alone, crushed beneath the paws of his enemies.

I was retrieving RiverClan for my brothers. They meant more to me than the world, than my own life. They'd supported me through our journey just as I had them, let me lean on their shoulders, teased me, comforted me, let me be the strong one. I couldn't just let them fend for themselves. They were my littermates, and I would do anything for them.

Which was completely different from how I felt about the ignorant, naïve idiot padding along beside me. Though he might look stoic enough with his head bowed against the gusting wind, eyes narrowed and ears flattened against his head, plowing onward like a mountain against a blizzard, I knew he was just an inconvenience. Looks weren't everything. It was what was inside that counted. And StarClan, did this tom have to grow up! He was still as young as the new apprentices back at camp in his mind. If he could only become a warrior inside as well as outside, then maybe I'd accept him as a friend. But anything else and at any time before then? No. Not a chance.

I gritted my teeth and growled under my breath. Apparently Foxtooth had the hearing of a rabbit as well as the silence of one, because he turned his head toward me, his expression a mask of concern. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice just audible over the storm. So much for the silence of a rabbit. "You've been growling to yourself all day. Was… was it something I did?"

I sighed to myself, pointedly turning away. Why did this cat have to nose his way into everyone's business? I had my problems, he had his, and every single other cat had theirs, so why did he have to pry? Plus, the sound of his voice was annoying.

Foxtooth, thankfully, got the message. He dropped his head back down and continued padding along through the field, his paws splashing through the puddles. I moved away to avoid getting splashed. Though I was already soaking wet, I felt like getting splashed by water that had touched Foxtooth was worse than getting splashed with mud.

We continued on through the field with no change whatsoever in the scenery, plodding on and on through the downpour, until, finally, we reached another forest.

The river cut through the trees, thinning them to either side. It splashed downstream, back to the lake, and I made sure the river didn't splash me either. Quite honestly, rivers in general repulsed me. I couldn't imagine why – it wasn't like I'd almost _drowned_ in one! And now I was going to find RiverClan, who probably lived at the bottom of an ocean or something. For the first time, I wondered if maybe it wouldn't have been better if Rainpaw or Sootpaw came on this journey instead of me.

"Hey! You two!"

I whipped around, claws suddenly unsheathed, my lips parted in a snarl. Who was this, to interrupt our journey with possible danger? Who dared disturb my despondent, dreary thoughts?

It was a cat. A she-cat of about Foxtooth's age stood there, her back to the river, her black and white patched fur a sharp distinction against the dark gray river raging a tail-length from her tail. Her yellow eyes gleamed with reflected lightning as it flashed over our heads.

"Come with me!" she called over the storm's noise. "Quick!" She turned around and vanished over the river's bank.

Foxtooth and I, surprisingly seeming to have the same idea for once, lunged forward to try and catch her as, we were sure, she fell yowling into the unbreakable grip of the current raging beneath us. But by the time we got there, all we saw was turbulent iron-gray waves and a mishmash of random foliage coming from upstream.

"We're too late!" Foxtooth moaned, dropping his chin onto the sandy bank where it dropped steeply away into the river. "The wind must have blown her off the edge before we could get to her!"

Immediately I dug my claws into the turf. There was no way that wind would pluck me off the edge; it could take Foxtooth first and then I'd know enough to run away from this river. But before the blustering weather could take either of our lives, a black face decorated with white spirals poked out from the bank as though it had come straight through a solid wall.

"What are you waiting for?" the she-cat asked in annoyance. "Come on!" And again she vanished, only this time Foxtooth and I knew she hadn't gone into the river; rather, she'd disappeared into what seemed to be a den in the riverbank.

The river raged on, endless waves slapping spray up against my fur, the swollen waters rising perilously close to the den's entrance. I hesitated, my gaze fixed on the waters, imagining clawed paws rising from the water to drag me down into its depths. My muscles froze, so I couldn't move a kittenstep either to safety or to try and enter that den. I couldn't do it. The risk of landing in the river was just too great.

I saw a dark red blur drop over the edge out of the corner of my eye and knew immediately who it was. Foxtooth had done it. He'd made it down there. And now both he and the she-cat would be waiting for me down in their little den thing. I couldn't keep them waiting! It would make me look weak for sure! So, clenching my teeth and narrowing my eyes, I fixed my gaze on the sandy bank and leaped over the edge.

I mistimed my jump completely. Just as I landed on the mostly dry sand, a wave broke over it, sweeping my paws to one side. I scrabbled at the sand but there were no pawholds to be found – no rocks, no roots, no nothing, and the river had grabbed me and I couldn't fight, couldn't resist, because it was nothing but water and you couldn't claw water into submission. You could only run, run like a coward, away from the terrible water.

A flash of reddish fur flickered in the corner of my eye for the second time that day, and I felt a set of teeth in my scruff, hauling me out of the river's clutches and onto dry sand. I coughed, kicking my hind legs underneath me and scrambling away from the evil, murderous river. Foxtooth had saved me. How embarrassing was that, that I had to be saved by such an idiot?

I pushed myself to my paws and stalked into the den, not even glancing at Foxtooth. My pelt burned with embarrassment despite my recent dip in the frigid river water. Shaking myself like a dog, I ducked my head and entered the shady den made completely of sand.

The black and white cat sat beside a nest made of moss and bracken. There was something a little strange about how tidy it was; I'd expected that this she-cat wouldn't have a clue how to make a next that good. Maybe it had been passed down from her mother or something.

Foxtooth entered the den behind me. I immediately crossed to a corner far from the entrance and bent my head to busily clean myself. Luckily, Foxtooth didn't follow.

The she-cat sat in silence while we dried ourselves. It was only when I was finished and glanced up that I initiated conversation.

"So who are you?" was my first question. Probably a little rude, but there you go. I had to make a good impression, didn't I?

The she-cat raised her eyebrows. Apparently she had noticed my rudeness, and judging by the slight upward tilt of her nose, she didn't like it. "My name is Badger," she said loftily. "I am a loner who calls these woods her home."

"Aren't you worried it's going to flood?" I asked, half-glancing at the swollen, turbulent river outside.

"Oh, no," Badger said soothingly. "I've lived in this den for many moons and so did my father before he passed away. Together we saw many, many rainstorms and this den has never flooded once. It seems it is at a high enough level in the bank that it is difficult for the storms to wash away," she finished in a self-satisfied sort of tone.

Immediately, I decided I didn't like her at all. She was way too self-centered for my liking. "Why did you nearly kill me?" I demanded, standing up and shoving my nose in her face. It was time she saw who was really on top: aka _me_.

"Oh, I wasn't trying to kill you!" she exclaimed, laughing slightly. I growled low in my throat. "That wasn't my fault! I was just trying to offer you a shelter to outlast the rain, is all."

I glared at her. I could hear the message underneath her words as plainly as if she'd shouted it in my ear. _You're just clumsier than me. _I turned away in disgust. Now I was stuck in a den with a cat who had a very high opinion of herself and the blundering idiot, Foxtooth. This cat was just badgering me!

"Well, I'm afraid we can't stay," I said, imitating her lofty tone. "_We_ have a very important mission to complete."

"Oh, really?" Badger asked. I scowled. "Well, don't let me keep you! It's just that it would be pretty difficult to climb out of this den with the river this high. I'd be more than happy to keep you for… say, a quarter moon while the river dies back down?"

"A _quarter moon?_" I gasped. "No _way_ are we staying that long! _No way!_"

"Well why not?" Badger asked. "It's not like you can get out of here after your… ah… unfortunate accident just now."

I kicked sand at her. "Excuse me," I hissed, "but if we stay for a quarter moon, my brothers might be _dead!_ _His_ brother might be dead!" I flicked my tail at Foxtooth, who was crouching on the sandy floor watching us silently, his eyes wide and his ears forward. "We can't stay for an entire _quarter moon!_ No, we have to find RiverClan." I stalked toward the entrance. "Come on, Foxtooth," I spat.

"Wait," he said suddenly.

I whipped around, glaring at him. He wasn't looking at me, though, so my expression was wasted. He was staring at Badger, and I realized after a heartbeat that he looked suspicious. What was going on with him?

"You moved funny," he said slowly, still staring at Badger, who was as still as a tree trunk, gazing coolly back at him. "When Cinderpaw said 'RiverClan', you moved funny. It was almost like you knew RiverClan."

Badger just looked at him for the longest time. I was frozen, staring straight at her, but she and Foxtooth were having a sort of silent staring match and neither was looking at me. Finally, she spoke.

"Very good, tom," she said, her lips curving into a smile. "You saw my hint. Yes, I do know RiverClan. I know them very well. In fact, I'd be willing to take you to them, if you want."

I stepped forward again. "Yes," I said somewhat abruptly. "Anything that can get me back to my brothers. They need me."

"I'm sure," Badger said softly. She stood, stretched luxuriously, then padded out of the den at a relaxed sort of pace. Foxtooth glanced around at me, and for the first time, I met his gaze for a heartbeat. Then, I dropped it and headed for the entrance. We really had no time to lose.

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><p><strong>So how'd you like the chapter? This one took me since Saturday night to type, but I'm glad it's finally done! :)<strong>

**One more thing – I updated my profile so that it now has a poem I'm pretty proud of. It was based off of a dream I had, so… yeah. My dreams are apparently really detailed and complicated when put into poetry. XD But seriously, I'm actually really proud of that poem and it would mean a lot if you could go read it and send me a "review" or something in a PM. Thanks! :)**

**And now on to the AOTD and the QOTD…**

**AOTD: Yes, I'm going to London for about a week over Christmas, so I'll most likely not post any chapters around that time. :( Sorry about that, but I'm sure you understand, as I probably won't even bring the laptop with me.**

**QOTD: What is your favorite non-Warriors book?**


	13. Pigeon Hunting Once Again

**This chapter probably could've been out earlier today, but I kept getting distracted by my brand new (early-opened Christmas present) drawing tablet! :D I'm really excited about it and I've already sort of figured out how it works. It's currently my mouse, which is pretty cool. But anyway, I drew a picture of Sootpaw on Gimp and it turned out semi-okay, though Gimp ended up messing up the colors a bunch. If you'd like to see it, the link to my (also brand new) Deviantart account is in my profile. But yeah, I'm going to try downloading Photoshop to draw a picture of one of the new apprentices, Aspenpaw and Alderpaw. Hopefully I can get a new drawing done tonight! :)**

**Anyway, on with the chapter after these review replies!**

**EradrinSkyleaf: #TheHobbitisamazing #I'mgoingtoseeitinLondon #I'mreplyingtohashtagswithhashtags XD**

**ShadowHawk: It's fine you couldn't PM me! I wasn't really expecting any "guests" to reply via PM. :P That would actually kind of weird me out if it happened.**

**QLKwriter: I read Fablehaven a few years ago. That was a great book series, I agree! And yeah, we get a little bit of snow each year but not quite enough to shovel.  
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**Nightfeather: Okay, fine, since it doesn't affect the plot all that much... Badger met RiverClan as they traveled to their new home. Though she was young, she still remembered which direction they went in and sometimes visited them. And I was sort of planning on skipping over the part where Rainpaw gets rained on because it's just him sheltering under some shelter thing in an alleyway and maybe sleeping, pretty much just boring. I promise I didn't plan it just because of your review! D: And don't worry, it's real, living goldfish. XD Goldfish snacks...**

**Starfrost515: I know what you mean! There are just too many books to choose from... but is that a good thing? That there are too many good books in the world? :P Bye until NXT review!**

**Anove00: I know! It's just so hard to choose between them all because they're all just so good!  
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><p><strong>Rainpaw's POV<strong>

We finally made it, sides heaving, to the relative safety of the Twolegplace. Hyperion led the way, expertly navigating through the maze of Thunderpaths and Twoleg dens, following a path he obviously knew, until he finally skidded to a halt in a deserted alley.

"We're safe," he panted. "Or at least, we're mostly safe."

I immediately dropped my hindquarters to the ground, my head hanging as I gasped air into the flaming inferno that was my lungs. Sure, running was fun, but not when it involved running for your life from a bunch of crazy Twolegs and their dogs. It seemed, though, as though we'd finally lost them amongst the winding, twisting Thunderpaths and alleyways.

The other two apprentices, Aspenpaw and Alderpaw, managed to scramble to a stop before they crashed into Hyperion's legs. They stood there, heads bent as they panted for air they probably needed more than me. They were thin and their fur raggedy, as though they'd been stuck in that cage for a few days. As I slowly got my breath back, I looked them over. There hadn't been time to look closer at them before, when we were escaping from the Twolegs, but now I could stare at them all I wanted.

They looked mostly similar, with light brown tabby fur interspersed with splashes of pure white that wasn't actually all that pure after their imprisonment. They had long legs and tails and were lean, though that might just be a lack of food. Though they looked similar, Aspenpaw somehow seemed to take up more space than her brother. Maybe it was just because she seemed to be more the one in charge.

As soon as I thought that, I knew it must be true. I recalled hearing her shouting orders to her brother as we'd escaped, and even now, while her brother caught his breath, she glanced around at their surroundings, making absolute sure they were completely safe. As I watched, her hazel eyes flashed in my direction, passed over me, then returned to stare at me as she caught me looking at her. There was definitely something challenging in her gaze, as though she were mentally asking, _What are you looking at?_ Even though I couldn't hear her thoughts as I could my siblings, I could just tell that was something along the lines of what she was thinking.

I was proven right a moment later as she stalked straight up to me and, pushing her nose into my face, asked somewhat louder than necessary, "What are you doing here? Who are you?"

Bewildered and intimidated, I scooted backward, my tongue fumbling for something to say. I spotted Hyperion looking on with amusement flickering in his eyes. I could tell he wasn't going to be any help. Finally, though, I managed to blurt out, "I'm – I'm Rainpaw. I kn-know Hyperion from when I p-passed through here before."

Aspenpaw seemed to press closer somehow. I shrank back into my fur, wondering feebly if she was going to claw me and yowl that I lied. But after several tense heartbeats, she stepped back and finally lowered those intense hazel eyes. "I'm sorry," she muttered, curling one paw around a stone on the ground in what I assumed was embarrassment and glancing at Alderpaw. "It's just that I wanted to make sure you weren't going to hurt Alderpaw, is all. Sorry."

"No, it's fine," I said, my voice halting slightly and proving my words to be, ironically, a lie. "Um, does Alderpaw need protecting that much?" I thought that maybe Alderpaw and Aspenpaw were a little like me and Cinderpaw; Cinderpaw was always trying to protect me.

"No, I don't!" Alderpaw appeared to finally have recovered from his run. He glared up at his sister, his pale blue eyes annoyed. "She just thinks I do," he explained to me without taking his eyes off Aspenpaw.

Aspenpaw rolled her eyes, though so that Alderpaw couldn't see. "Yeah, yeah," she muttered, turning away. "Sure you don't."

Again, I was forcibly reminded of myself and Cinderpaw in these two apprentices. I felt a sharp pang of loneliness in my heart as I thought of Cinderpaw, making her way alone to RiverClan territory. At least I had Hyperion to help guide me though the Twolegplace, and from there it was only about a two-day journey to the forest, provided there weren't any rainstorms as were common around this time of year. Leaffall was setting in fast and the rains would be coming soon. The thick clouds above in the sky were proof enough of that.

As if I'd spoken my thoughts aloud, Hyperion glanced skyward and finally broke in. "It looks like it'll rain soon. How about we try to find something to eat and then hole up in a sheltered alley somewhere?"

"Sounds-" Alderpaw tried to meow.

"Sounds great," Aspenpaw interrupted. "Let's get going." To illustrate her words, she bounded off to the far end of the alley.

"Okay," I meowed, noticing Alderpaw's glare directed at his sister and attempting to break up an argument before it began. I beckoned with my tail to Alderpaw, and together we followed Hyperion to the end of the alley and Aspenpaw.

LINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAKLINEBREAK

It took quite a bit of searching, but eventually we found a clearing of sorts surrounded by high stone walls containing what seemed to be about a hundred pigeons. My mouth watered just at the sight of them.

"See, pigeons generally tend to cluster together like this," Hyperion whispered to us. "It's rare to find a pigeon all by itself here. It must be some sort of survival tactic. But what it does for us is allows us all to catch one at once. It seems to work for most of them, though, because once four of them are down, the rest take to the sky and survive another day."

I nodded, watching as about five pigeons glided down from a ledge on one of the stone walls into the clearing, where they joined the mass of white feathers and bobbing heads. Though Hyperion hadn't told me this, I deduced that if one of us didn't manage to catch a pigeon, we'd have to ask another to share theirs. Which meant I had to catch one of these pigeons. I just had to.

The four of us crept into the clearing along the edge of one of the stone walls. I made sure to use all the hunting tactics Hyperion taught me: eyes narrowed to keep from reflecting light, muzzle angled downward in case I had bad breath, ears half-flattened to pick up noise but still keep from being too obvious, and claws half-sheathed so they wouldn't scrape the ground but would also be easier to unsheathe when I finally leaped. I took a deep, silent breath. I could do this. I could hunt this pigeon, whichever one out of the sea of bobbing heads I chose.

Aspenpaw twisted around and hissed in the merest whisper I could barely hear over the constant deep, throaty cooing of the pigeons. "Alderpaw, look!" She nodded toward an odd structure that was sort of like an elevated platform except that one side was raised twice as high as the others, stretching high above the narrow platform. Underneath crouched a solitary pigeon. "You can catch that one!"

Alderpaw flattened his ears against his head, his chest swelling as a soft hiss escaped from behind his parted fangs. His eyes were pale blue infernos, their heat directed at Aspenpaw. "No," he growled under his breath. "You can get that one."

"But it's easy enough that you can get it!"

Alderpaw angrily kicked at the ground. I hurriedly moved a pawstep forward to block him from the views of the pigeons; any sudden movements on our part could catch their attention and send them scattering for the top of the nearby walls. "Why do I always have to get the easy ones?" he spat. "I can hunt perfectly well by myself! I'm just as old as you, so you can stop treating me like I'm your kit!"

Aspenpaw flicked her tail angrily. Luckily, though, she managed to hold in her physical movement beyond that. "I was _trying_," she meowed in a dangerous sort of tone that made me want to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction, "to let you off the hook for once. Do you want it to be hard all the time? I could make it hard _all the time!_" Her voice had begun to rise in volume. Hyperion backed up to whisper in her ear so quietly I couldn't hear a word of it. It seemed to calm her down, though, because she looked down, flattened her ruffled fur, and closed her eyes, taking a deep, silent breath like the one I'd taken only moments before.

"Sorry," she whispered. I wasn't quite sure if it was aimed at Hyperion or Alderpaw, but it seemed like both took it to be aimed at them. Hyperion nodded once and padded back to the lead of the small group, while Alderpaw looked down and, after a moment, replied, "That's okay."

We moved on, scouring the mass of pigeons and the areas around the walls for an ideal spot to hunt. Finally, after about a minute of tense, silent movement, during which I managed to almost kick seven small, noisy rocks and we ended up backtracking several times, we found the place. Turns out, it was the strange object under which the pigeon had been resting before, the source of Aspenpaw's and Alderpaw's argument. The pigeon had gone, though whether this was a good or bad thing, I wasn't sure. There wouldn't be another argument, but there also wouldn't be an easy catch for someone.

We scanned the pigeons. My eyes focused on one standing somewhat far away from the crowd. It was nice and fat, probably the juiciest bit of prey I'd have had since the lake. I licked my lips, crouching into the perfect hunter's crouch Hyperion taught me.

"Ready?" Hyperion breathed. I glanced around and saw him looking at us. I nodded and returned my gaze to my prey. "On three."

But to my surprise, I didn't hear Hyperion count to three. Instead, I felt his tail plus two others join mine in the center of our little semicircle, each of us facing our prey. What I guessed was Hyperion's tail lifted above the others, then dropped down on top of them. _One._ Hyperion lifted and lowered his tail again. _Two._ Hyperion raised and dropped his tail for a third time and the four of us exploded out into the clearing with yowls of triumph and much panicked humming from the pigeons.

I leaped straight at my pigeon, but as I felt it crumple underneath my paws, another pair of claws unsheathed from one brown paw and one white paw. With one twist of the white paw, the pigeon fell limply to the hard, cold stone as the rest of the pigeon sea burst into the air in a wild swarm of feathers and talons. Ducking, I glanced up and saw Alderpaw standing over the pigeon I'd sought out to be my catch.

Aspenpaw and Hyperion padded over, each carrying their own pigeon. When they saw the two of us, both with our claws in the pigeon, they burst into amused purrs. "You both went for the same one, eh?" Hyperion asked, smiling so widely he nearly dropped his own catch. "Well, I guess that would double your chances of catching it."

"Here," Alderpaw muttered, pushing the still-warm carcass toward me. "It was yours. You saw it first."

"How can you possibly know that?" I asked incredulously, shoving it back at him. "Here, you definitely need it more."

"Nah, your stomach's been growing all afternoon. You take it."

I suddenly became aware once again of my own nearly-crippling hunger. It was almost as bad as it had been as I stood before the strange, magnetic meat. Still, I pushed it back at him just after he'd tried to give it back to me. "No. You went without food longer than me; you need it much more."

Alderpaw gave me an uncertain sort of look. "But then what'll you eat?"

"I'll share with Hyperion," I said confidently, turning to the golden tom, who nodded. "I'll be fine."

Alderpaw's face broke into a smile. "Oh. Okay then. Thanks a bunch, …um, what's your name again?"

"Rainpaw."

"Thanks a bunch, then, Rainpaw."

We exchanged smiled before Hyperion broke in. "We really need to get going, you two," he said warningly, glancing at the sky. "The rain's coming down fast on us and we need to get to a suitable shelter before then."

"Right," I said, getting to my paws. "Let's go."

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><p><strong>So how did you like this chapter? Do you think Aspenpaw and Alderpaw are good characters to add in? (I'm adding them in whether or not you think so, but I'd make a conscious effort in future chapters to make them better if you think they're not that great)<strong>

**AOTD: Eh... why did I have to ask this question to myself? Ummmmm... Harry Potter, the Mortal Instruments, and Seven Realms I guess. They're all great series! (and yes, I'm pretty sure the plural of series is series!)**

**Okay, so this QOTD isn't really part of the story, but...**

**QOTD: Would you rather me draw Alderpaw, Aspenpaw, or both of them in one?**


	14. Battle Training

**All right, I'm back from London! Here's your next chapter for your New Years Gift! :)**

**Also, I know this chapter is shorter than the other ones. I'm sorry about this, I know you enjoy longer chapters, but those take so long to type up! It's just amazing how much more motivation I need to do a 2000 word chapter rather than a 1000 chapter. So here's my compromise. I'll aim for 1500 words for every chapter, which basically means each chapter will be 1600 words-ish. Is that okay?**

**I was going to also post a chapter but I was so busy packing and everything, I never really got around to chapter writing. Meh.  
><strong>

**ShadowHawk: I think your review got cut off a bit, but them getting trapped would be pretty cool. Alderpaw would probably cower and Aspenpaw would probably be hissing at whatever was trapping them. XD**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: If you don't use a tablet, then how do you draw such amazing artwork to post on Deviantart? ;)**

**EradrinSkyleaf: Yes, he did indeed! :) And we actually didn't get to watch The Hobbit in London! D: It was actually The Imitation Game, which was also pretty good, but I'm guessing can't compare with The Hobbit. :P**

**Nightfeather: Since you put your name at the bottom of your reviews, I could tell it was you. Don't worry about that. ;) And I did mean "growling", not "growing". XD**

**QLKwriter: I definitely try to give each of my characters a distinct personality. I hope you like the drawing! :)**

**XxLight-of-Flaming-OakxX: Is this you, MistClan505/Starfrost515? XD I'm guessing it is. I don't mind your changing your username again; it's good to change it constantly and then stick with one name for a long time rather than changing it every month or so. I must say, I like this username the best of all three. Thanks for checking out my drawing of Sootpaw! :)**

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><p><strong>Sootpaw's POV<strong>

The morning was cold with the first chilly breezes of Leaffall. I fluffed up my fur, trying to stay warm as I bounded down the slope of rocks not yet warmed by the sun, finally landing on the dusty ground of the stone hollow.

Cats were milling around as they waited for me to wake. I did a quick scan of the clearing and saw, as I'd expected, that the only cats missing were those on the dawn patrol and Mistheart, who guarded the entrance. I could just make out her gray tail flicking through the thorn barrier.

A pale gray figure I recognized instantly as Dawnpaw burst through the medicine den's entrance. I stared at her; what was she doing racing around the clearing? Shouldn't she be in her nest, sleeping, trying to recover from her wounds? Why was Stormtuft letting her run amok in the clearing this early?

My questions were answered almost immediately. Dawnpaw, spotting me, bounded to my side and pushed her muzzle into my shoulder. Surprised, but thankful for this show of affection, I returned the gesture.

"Sootpaw, guess what?" Dawnpaw asked, her voice bursting with excitement.

"What?" I replied, grinning at her contagious happiness.

"Stormtuft released me! He said I was healthy enough to resume my apprentice duties!" Her voice lifted into what sounded most like a squeal.

"Oh, wow! That's great!" Sootpaw exclaimed, his eyes widening with his excitement for her; her emotions really were contagious.

"I know!" she said fervently. "I love having this much freedom again!"

I gave myself a split second to think. "Um, how about you and I go out with Snowclaw this morning for some battle training?" he asked. "I know your mentor must want to spend some time with you after your time in the medicine den."

"Yeah," Dawnpaw said, her face falling slightly. "I've been in the medicine den a lot lately, haven't I? First it was when I was… recovering… from that… attack." She looked at the ground.

Knowing where this was going, I nosed her cheek. "And the second time was when you were recovering from that other attack. Hopefully you won't have to go back there for a while."

"Yeah," Dawnpaw said. She took a deep breath and looked up again. "Sorry about that," she said softly. "It's just… well, every time her name comes up, it's just like my heart's ripped open again. I'm not sure that'll ever heal, no matter how long I spend in the medicine den."

"Hey, that's okay," I said, gazing at her. "I think I understand that. If one of my littermates… if they didn't come back from their journey…"

"Yeah," Dawnpaw meowed again. "I get it. It'd hurt like nothing else would."

I nodded. We stood in silence, each consumed with thoughts of their respective siblings, until finally a voice broke the spell.

"Sootpaw!"

It was Rustpelt. He bounded over, his expression one of anticipation. "You coming?" he asked. "The Clan's getting a little hungry. You probably should send out a hunting patrol soon." He glanced around at Dawnpaw. "Oh, hi Dawnpaw," he added. "How are you?"

Dawnpaw didn't reply. Rustpelt glanced from her to me in a bemused sort of way until understanding suddenly blossomed across his face. "Oh, was I interrupting something?" He began to back awkwardly away. "Um, sorry."

I shook my head. "No, you're fine," I told Rustpelt. Then, after rasping my tongue over Dawnpaw's ear, I meowed in a softer voice, "I'd better get going. After I send out some patrols, we can go practice our battle moves, okay?"

Dawnpaw nodded, smiling at me. "Okay."

I nodded to Rustpelt and padded with him across the clearing to where the rest of the Clan stood waiting. Leaping up onto the flat rock, I cleared my throat and began. "Rustpelt, I want you to lead a hunting patrol. Take Streamfrost, Morningpaw, and Sparrowtalon and leave immediately. The Clan needs to be fed.

"Larkwing, I want you to take Molewhisker and Crouchfoot on the Sunhigh border patrol. I believe Aspentail, Cherryfall, and Twigpaw are out patrolling the NightClan border, so you should probably start with the old ThunderClan-WindClan border."

I glanced around, mentally crossing off cats I already had assignments for. The resulting number of cats who remained was pitiful: Scorchblaze and Shadepaw. "Okay, so Scorchblaze, go relieve Mistheart of guarding the camp. Shadepaw, you can join the border patrol." Both cats nodded. Scorchblaze bounded over to the entrance on the tails of Rustpelt's hunting patrol and slipped through. After a moment, Mistheart slid back into the camp and headed straight for the warriors' den.

Dawnpaw and Snowclaw padded over. Snowclaw looked slightly confused. "What am I supposed to do, Sootpaw?" he called before he'd gotten halfway to me.

"You, Dawnpaw, and I are all going to go practice our battle moves today," I explained. "I figured you'd want to spend some one-on-one time with your apprentice and we should probably practice our battle moves anyway."

Snowclaw nodded, understanding lighting his amber eyes. "Okay, sounds great!" He grinned at his apprentice and she grinned right back. "Good to see you on your paws again, Dawnpaw. I hope you won't go back to the medicine den for a long time!"

"Me too!" she responded adamantly.

"So should we get going?" I asked, leaping down from the rock. After making sure both cats nodded, I led the way out of the clearing.

It was strange how I was the one leading the warrior—the apprentice before the mentor. Perhaps Cinderpaw, Rainpaw, and I should promote ourselves to warriors once they returned. I snorted inwardly at how stupid that sounded—us promoting ourselves. Who ever heard of that?

I caught a glimpse of the mossy clearing through the trees. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Snowclaw's white pelt flash past me, darting into the clearing. I didn't think too much of it until Dawnpaw and I entered to the sound of his battle cry.

Dawnpaw yelped and I spun around, darting to the side as Snowclaw leaped on Dawnpaw's back, forcing her to the ground and rolling her into a pin nearly impossible to free oneself from. "Lesson one of battle training," he meowed loudly for both Dawnpaw and me to hear. "Always know where the enemy is and always be prepared in case of an attack." He glanced approvingly at me. "You had the right instincts, Sootpaw, trying to get out of the way of my leap. But I'm sorry to say you were much too slow to get out from under me if I'd actually been aiming at you."

I nodded and Snowclaw released Dawnpaw, who scrambled to her paws looking distinctly ruffled. She backed into the middle of the clearing, staring hard at Snowclaw, marking his every move.

"Good, Dawnpaw," Snowclaw meowed. "But be careful of staring too hard. Sometimes, if you're battling a more experienced warrior, they'll wait for you to blink before attacking. If you stare for long enough, they'll be preparing to leap as soon as they see your eyelids flicker."

Dawnpaw quickly blinked her eyes halfway closed, not exactly blinking but enough like it to confuse an enemy. She then rolled to the side and came up with claws flashing right where she'd been moments before.

"Very good!" Snowclaw congratulated her. "You really can think on your feet, can't you, Dawnpaw?" Dawnpaw glowed under the praise. "Now show me the most advanced move you've learned so far."

But as Dawnpaw lined up her paws for balance, pushing herself into the air for a backflip over an opponent's back, Snowclaw leaped sideways, right at me. Remembering what Dawnpaw had done moments before, I quickly rolled to the side and, right after I found my paws, swiped sideways with sheathed claws where I'd been standing before. It worked—well, it mostly worked. Yes, I managed to avoid getting pinned from the leap, but I overbalanced as I swiped and ended up lying on the ground anyway.

"That was a good try, Sootpaw," Snowclaw meowed, sounding impressed. "But I think Dawnpaw's a little more flexible than you. You're more muscular and broad-shouldered. Maybe you should try waiting for your opponent to land on you, then roll with their momentum, crushing them beneath you."

"So a little like the drop-and-roll?" I asked.

Snowclaw nodded. "Yes, a lot like the drop-and-roll, actually. The only difference is that you purposefully let your opponent land on your back when you could also roll out of the way."

I nodded in understanding. "Okay, that makes sense."

"Good." Snowclaw flashed Dawnpaw and me a smile. "Now, how about the two of you try fighting each other? You're both quite advanced, and I think you should be a good match for each other."

My fur suddenly felt warm. Did Snowclaw realize that what he'd just said could also be taken to mean something very different?

"And… fight!"

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><p>The three of us headed back to camp around Sunhigh. This was partially because the other patrols needed organizing and partially because Snowclaw got fed up with me always letting Dawnpaw beat me.<p>

"Hey, Sootpaw?" It was Dawnpaw, hurrying up to walk alongside me instead of her mentor.

"Yeah?"

"Can I be put on a hunting patrol this afternoon?"

I nodded. "Sure, I could probably arrange that. If not, I can make sure you and Snowclaw are free to practice hunting on your own."

"Thanks," Dawnpaw said, giving me a smile that made my heart feel like it was made of clouds and my legs like they were full of nothing but leaves and cobwebs. She dropped back beside her mentor, leaving me feeling like I was on the top of the world. I couldn't wait to spend more time with Dawnpaw. That she-cat sure was something special.

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><p><strong>Okay, so I actually have an AdOTD this time! :D Here it is:<br>**

**AdOTD: "It's" and "its." This is a distinction I only learned a little while ago on some personal research stuff. "It's" is purely used for shortening to "It is." "Its" is for everything else. The apostrophe shows possession for other words, but if "it's" showed possession, then it would be used all the time.**

**AOTD: I drew them both! :) I hope you like them if you haven't already seen it.**

**QOTD: Um... sorry, no inspiration for a QOTD. :P How about: What were your favorite presents you got this year if you celebrate Christmas? If not then... sorry, I don't have a QOTD for you. :(  
><strong>


	15. RiverClan

**Happy 2015! (unless if you're Chinese and don't celebrate the new year until February)**

**Okay, so I'm really sorry for not uploading for over a week. I've been trying to finish the 100-review special (a drawing of Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and Rainpaw) but I haven't really had enough time to work on any quality drawings now that school's started up again. So I'll try to finish just the cats and leave the background blank. I'm sorry, but that's all I'm probably going to be able to do if I want to get the special out anytime in the near future. But as it's been so long since I've uploaded and the special still isn't done, I figured I'd just post the next chapter and put out the special sometime in the next week, if I can.**

**QLKwriter: I remember when I got a Kindle from my parents last year and a Kindle case from my brother. It's really useful for not carrying around five pounds of books when you go on long trips. XD**

**The Age of Awesomeness: I never really got involved in Pokemon. I did try out a WiiU at my friend's house once, though, and they're really cool, though I most likely won't get one because I already have a Wii. **

**EradrinSkyleaf: *jaw drops* There's a dictionary entry about Legolas? *goes to look it up immediately* I found a new word: Legolasing. It means, and I quote, "when you shoot arrows at people and appear in the lord of the rings and you kill orcs." :D That's just great.**

**Anova: I got a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card! I have to wait to spend it, though, because my birthday's in about 2 weeks and I'd just buy all the books I want for my birthday. :P**

**XxLight-of-Flaming-OakxX: Hey, I got (one) really cool pen, too! It's a calligraphy pen and I have no clue how to use it correctly but it's still really cool. XD I'm not sure what Paracord is but it sounds fancy. And tablets are great – I've used my mom's and it's (surprisingly *sarcasm*) great!**

**Nightfeather: London was fun, thanks for asking! :) It was cold and mostly soggy but I got to eat scones and clotted cream, which incidentally is one of the best foods in existence. But yes, candy is also wonderful. XD Hmm, I wonder how you thought up that suggestive QOTD? Happy New Year! (it was still New Year's Eve when you reviewed)**

**Scarletpool: I actually never thought of what Soot x Dawn's ship name would be. Which sounds best to you? ;)**

**Willowdream of ForestClan: That's so cool! One of my friends got a guitar and she took it out to practice chords when I went over to her house a week or two ago. And the bracelet sounds great, too. ;)**

**ShadowHawk: I doubt you'll get copywrighted. If anything, the company might think you're just advertising for them for free or something. XD But headphones sound cool! I always unconsciously mess with the cords of my earbuds and break them so I switched to headphones about a month or two ago.**

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><p><strong>Cinderpaw's POV<strong>

We walked on and on through the forest, parallel to the swollen, raging river. Badger padded in the lead with Foxtooth, while I followed behind. I was okay with this arrangement, even though normally I preferred to lead the way, because this way I could keep my eyes on Badger at all times. For some strange reason, I didn't trust her.

I growled under my breath, kicking at a stray stick lying beside the path, sending it flying through the air to land with a slight splash in the swiftly flowing river. I watched it bob along until it passed out of sight behind a line of thick beech trees ahead.

Fixing my eyes once more on Foxtooth and Badger, I realized they were talking to each other. Foxtooth was grinning as usual, making him look like an idiot as usual, but I had to do a double take when I saw Badger's expression. She was also smiling. What was going on there? Did she actually like talking to Foxtooth? _Maybe she should just ask him to be her mate now,_ I thought with a savage surge of pleasure. _She's the only one who likes him besides Rustpelt._

Though I was perfectly fine with leaving them to talk about nonsense and fluffy clouds or whatever it was they were talking about so energetically, my boredom was increasing. After a quick glance to either side to check for more branches to kick into the river, I resigned myself to asking them one question.

I sped up, making sure to keep my gaze above their heads. Looking up indicated I was above them and their petty conversation. Looking down would make it seem like I thought myself subservient to them, and I couldn't stand Badger thinking she was better than me.

"So," I meowed in a loud, obnoxious voice sure to scatter their conversation like leaves before caterpillars, "how long until we get to RiverClan? Or," I added, dropping my gaze to stare straight at Badger, "are you leading us in the wrong direction?"

Badger had the nerve to roll her eyes. My skin prickled with irritation and my suddenly unsheathed claws dug into the ground. "We'll get there when we get there," she said infuriatingly. I hissed at her and fell back to pad behind them. No need to let Badger know she got on my nerves.

I didn't notice Foxtooth until he spoke. "We'll be there by sunset," he meowed softly. I glared at the river, away from my Clanmate. At least he didn't speak too loudly this time. Finally, he was learning.

"Oh yeah?" I shot Badger a dirty look. "What, so she told you but it'd kill her to tell me?"

Foxtooth was silent for a moment. "Um, I'm not sure why she wasn't telling you, Cinderpaw," he said. "You're a great cat. I guess she just hasn't gotten to know you well enough to realize that." I didn't reply, hoping he would go back ahead to Badger and quit showering me with his awkward compliments. After several long heartbeats, he did.

As I glanced back ahead at his and Badger's backs, I spotted the gleam of Badger's yellow eyes glaring at me in irritation. I felt a stab of triumph to know I'd been able to get her annoyed. I thought I knew what had gotten her tail in a twist, though. Foxtooth. _You can have him,_ I thought loftily at her. _I don't care._

But what if I spent more time with Foxtooth just to annoy her? It would certainly make her think there was something between us, diminishing her chances of winning his affection. Sure, I'd have to put up with Foxtooth's constant adoration, but I could deal with that if I could just glimpse Badger's livid expression.

I grinned to myself. Yes, that was what I'd do. Badger would hate me forever.

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><p>By the time the sun set that evening, the rain had finally stopped. I had taken up a position in the front just so I could get the first glimpse of the RiverClan camp and be right there to either say, "Finally!" or, "You lying fox!" Then again, maybe I should replace 'fox' with 'badger' just to annoy her.<p>

"It's just over this hill." Foxtooth's voice broke into my thoughts from behind, where he padded beside Badger like he had this entire trip. I glanced back at him and he nodded at the rise in front of us, just where the forest ended. "The RiverClan camp is just ahead."

I grinned. "Thanks," I meowed briefly. I kept looking over my shoulder for another heartbeat so I could see Badger's glare, even though I had to try to ignore Foxtooth's suddenly elated smile. Then, I began bounding forward.

The hill was slippery from the recent rain. I kept my gaze fixed on the turf in front of me, making sure each of my paws landed on a tussock of grass. The last thing I wanted right now was to slip and tumble back down the hill to land at Badger's feet. She'd never let me forget it.

Finally, I crested the hill. I looked ahead, my heart filling with excitement. This was it. This was the moment I'd finally reach my goal.

The land stretched away, completely flat besides one small dip in the ground near the river. Inside, I saw cats milling around and even a small pile of fish. They were there. RiverClan. The end of my journey.

Foxtooth and Badger caught up with me. I turned to look triumphantly at Badger. "Finally!" I half-yowled before turning to race down the hillside. I couldn't wait to meet RiverClan. I couldn't wait to hear their meows of ascent as they agreed to return with me to defend the peace around the lake. Behind me I heard the thumping of paws and out of the corner of my eye I saw a flicker of russet fur. Foxtooth must want to share in this moment; he did come all this way to find RiverClan, too. Behind me, I heard Badger's pawsteps as she tried to keep up with Foxtooth.

We were halfway there when I finally realized something was wrong. A putrid stench hit my nostrils as though I'd suddenly passed through an invisible barrier between clean air and filthy air. Coughing, I slowed, trying to breathe without opening my mouth, for the scent glands on the roof of my mouth would double the wretched stink.

The three of us skidded to a halt at the top of the dip and looked down. At a closer look, I finally realized that cats not only moved slowly around from den to den, but also lay on the ground, some writhing in apparent agony. I glanced sideways at Foxtooth and saw he looked just as stunned as me. His hazel eyes met mine and I nodded in agreement with the message plain within them. These cats were obviously Clan cats, but something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Cautiously, I padded forward into the dip, avoiding the cats lying sprawled across the grass. Something told me they could be dangerous. I didn't want to risk becoming one of these cats, trying to survive while something terrible moved through the midst of my Clanmates.

"Who are you?" A raspy sort of meow sounded from the mouth of a den to my right. I turned, careful to keep away from the limp cats, and spotted a light brown she-cat stepping out of the shadows to face us. She tilted her head, a strange mixture of wariness, fear, and confusion on her face. I stepped toward her, but she gasped and shook her head feverishly. She coughed once before speaking again, the roughness disappearing from her throat. "No! Don't come near me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," I meowed placatingly.

"That's not what I'm worried about," the she-cat insisted, backing away. "I don't want you to get hurt from me."

I exchanged another glance with Foxtooth. I thought I was starting to understand this strange phenomenon. For a heartbeat, I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before, but I figured it was because I'd encountered it so little before. "You're sick," I meowed.

The she-cat bowed her head. "I might be. I don't know. But my Clanmates are dying all over and I'm scared…" she swallowed and didn't finish her sentence. "My name is Rushstar and I'm the leader of RiverClan – or, that is, what's left of it."

"But what about your medicine cat?" Foxtooth cut in. "They'd be able to help, right?"

She shook her head wearily. "No. It's too late. We've tried everything we have, but this sickness is something we've never seen before. There's no way to fix it. We're slowly dying, one by one, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

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><p><strong>Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN!<br>**

**I tried to make this ending all dramatic. Did it work?**

**AOTD: You already know about my drawing tablet, but I also got a pair of black combat boots. Yes, they gave me a blister before I broke them in, but they're still one of my favorite Christmas presents.**

**QOTD: (credits to Nightfeather) What's your favorite candy?**


	16. The Race and a Proposal

**Happy Birthday Nightfeather! Hope your day is the best ever!**

**One other thing. I keep thinking I should give everyone a review reply the same length as all the others and I always feel guilty when someone's review reply is much shorter than the others. So, (mostly to clear my conscience) I'm going to put here that it really doesn't matter how long or short your review replies are. They really depend on how long or short your reviews are and they're all just as heartfelt as the others. If you want a longer review reply, you could always tell me in a review so I can make sure I don't leave anyone with a shorter one than they want!**

**The Age of Awesomeness: Candy canes! You should be able to get them on sale now, right? Because the Christmas season is over?**

**EradrinSkyleaf: *takes cookie* *gives back Legolas-shaped chocolate* Here you go for being awesome! Except you might have to melt it down and put it in some hot chocolate or something instead. I got braces about two years ago and got them off last spring, so I get the hurting teeth. :( I hope you can eat something solid within the first few days! XD**

**QLKwriter: Oh my gosh, that would be so… um, I want to say funny but then I'd feel bad because Cinderpaw would be crushed. :P Whatever, it would be so funny! (sorry Cinderpaw) I think I had something like a Nestle crunch bar around Halloween. It was rice Krispies inside chocolate and it was actually really good! I've never had a Nestle crunch bar but I'm guessing they're delicious from that.**

**XxLight-of-Flaming-OakxX: Caramel + Chocolate (not too much chocolate though) = YuMmY! XD And I think I knew I wanted something to be wrong with RiverClan, but I thought fighting would just make them shy away from the idea of fighting more at the lake, so I was like, "Hey, what about sickness?" and then I was like, "Oh, wait, MistClan505 put sickness in (her?) story, so I might have just gotten that from her. Huh. Well, I'll go ask her for permission." So I'm not sure if it was your idea or my idea or a combination, so let's just say it was your idea, okay? :P (that was a really long explanation that comes around to the exact same thing you were saying. Wowwwww self)**

**WillowdreamofForestClan: Yeah, that'd be great! :D I'm not too good at drawing backgrounds (or the cats themselves, for that matter, without some sort of model) so I'd be honored if you would draw a background! Okay, so how about I finish up the drawing today and then send it to you on Deviantart? I'm not sure how to do that but I'll figure it out! I hope!**

**ShadowHawk540: You made an account! :D I'm so happy for you! (I hope this is you, because if not… /o.o\ *embarrassed*) Okay, I'm curious now, what music did you have that so perfectly set the tone of the last chapter?**

**Anova00: I've heard of Milka before, but I've never tried it because it always has traces of hazelnuts or something in it. -.- I really hate my allergies, let me tell you.**

**Nightfeather: Two reviews? I'm honored. ;) That's cool that you celebrate the New Year twice. That way I guess you can make two sets of resolutions if your first resolutions fail… And I was sort of trying to make it seem like Cinderpaw wasn't jealous, but she hated Badger anyway. But you never know, she might be a little jealous in her heart. :P The deep dark depths of her heart. And yes, I did plan it so this chapter would come out on your birthday. A little present from me. :) Happy birthday!**

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><p><strong>Rainpaw's POV<strong>

We waited out the rain under a discarded sheet of metal propped against the wall of a Twoleg den. Hyperion and I shared his pigeon, as I'd given mine to the starving Alderpaw. When, finally, the rain cleared, we crept out from under the metal and padded down the alley.

"So, are you heading back to the forest now?" Hyperion asked conversationally.

"Yeah," I replied, only half-listening to the golden tom. My eyes were instead fixed ahead on Aspenpaw and Alderpaw.

Hyperion followed my gaze. He seemed to understand the general picture of my thoughts, because he asked next, "How are Sootpaw and Cinderpaw?"

"They're fine," I said, though a little too quickly.

Hyperion raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

I unconsciously looked down. "Well, at least I think they're fine. Last I saw them, Cinderpaw was leaving on a mission to bring back RiverClan and Sootpaw was sitting in camp trying to keep the Clan together."

Hyperion almost stopped dead. He paused for a heartbeat, staring at me, before bounding forward a few paces to catch up. "Rainpaw, what's going on at the lake?" he asked in a lower voice than before. I wondered if he'd noticed Aspenpaw's and Alderpaw's sudden silence ahead.

I sighed. "Well, there are two Clans there at the moment. There's LeopardClan, that's us, and there's NightClan, the evil Clan. Nightstar, the leader of NightClan, wants to wipe us out. He attacked our camp about a quarter moon ago. His warriors… they – they killed…" I couldn't continue. I felt the pressure of tears behind my eyes. Blinking hard, I looked away.

"Rainpaw?" Hyperion's voice was gentler than before. "Did… did you find your father?"

I nodded, sniffling. "He led LeopardClan. He was the greatest warrior they had."

Hyperion didn't comment about the past tense. He merely looked at his own paws for a heartbeat, giving me enough time to quickly lick my paw and swipe it across my eyes. Then, he meowed, "Is Sootpaw now leading LeopardClan?"

I nodded.

"But you don't have enough cats to fight NightClan?"

"No." I looked up at him. "That's why Cinderpaw went to find the remnants of RiverClan. That's why I'm trying to get back to the forest. We need help. Otherwise NightClan will wipe us out."

Hyperion blew out a breath. "They're that strong, are they?"

"During the battle they lost two warriors and the others had deep, crippling wounds. Two sunrises after that, they attacked our border patrol and seemed to be at full strength again. We're probably still recovering," I finished hopelessly. "We need backup. I don't think there's any other way we could possibly win this war."

Up ahead, Aspenpaw and Alderpaw had started whispering to each other. Though Hyperion and I weren't talking anymore, Hyperion lost in his thoughts, I couldn't hear one word the two spoke. I padded along in silence, worry for my littermates coursing through my body. What had happened to them? Were they going to be all right? Had NightClan attacked again? If not, what was holding them back?

I felt fur brush my side and looked up to see Aspenpaw walking beside me. "I, um, couldn't help but overhear you and Hyperion," she began slightly awkwardly. "But Alderpaw and I were born in that same forest you spoke of, I think."

"The one that queens and their mates retreated to when war broke out around the lake?" I checked.

Aspenpaw nodded. "Exactly. Alderpaw and I wanted some adventure, so we left as soon as we became apprentices and have lived in the Twolegplace ever since. Hyperion helped our mother and father through the Twolegplace before, so we found him and he showed us how to survive here." She paused for a heartbeat and my thoughts began to spin. What was she trying to say? "What I'm trying to say is that if you want, Alderpaw and I could come back with you. The three of us could go back to the forest and convince the others to help."

"You – you'd really do that?" I looked up at her, eyes wide and hopeful. I couldn't believe what she was saying.

Aspenpaw smirked. "Well, if your conversation with Hyperion was how you normally talk, I think you'll need someone with a bit more forceful meow."

I grinned. "You're probably right."

Aspenpaw laughed. "That's exactly what I meant. Anyway, Alderpaw and I should be getting back to the forest anyway. We should see our parents. I'm sure they'd still recognize us, even if we did change our names." Her eyes got a slightly faraway look for a moment before she bounded forward to continue walking with her brother.

Hyperion glanced down at me, his eyes lively. "Well, now you've got two traveling buddies again," he said, a laugh evident in his voice. "Even if they're not Sootpaw and Cinderpaw, I'm sure they'll be good enough."

I laughed, too. I'd thought that at the other side of the Twolegplace, I'd have to say goodbye to my new friends as well as Hyperion before heading out alone once more. Now that I knew I wouldn't have to leave them behind, my spirits soared. "Come on, let's pick up the pace," I said before leaping forward into a sprint. I flashed past Aspenpaw and Alderpaw, calling to them, "Race you!"

It wasn't long before Aspenpaw caught up with me. She slowly gained ground on me, though I pushed against the hard ground with all my strength. She dashed past me, grinning over her shoulder. It wasn't long before Alderpaw also caught up with me.

"What is it with you two and running?" I asked, panting for breath.

"Well, when you spend your life running from Twolegs, Monsters, and dogs, you get used to it," Alderpaw meowed. He also grinned at me before racing on to catch his sister. He wasn't even out of breath.

I slowed just as Hyperion caught up with me. He nosed me forward, his eyes gleaming. "Come on," he encouraged. "You're not just going to take this defeat, are you?"

I fixed my gaze on the apprentices' bobbing tails, raised in triumph. My eyes narrowed. "No," I said quietly. "No, I can still win this race." I sped up, my paws flashing beneath me in a blur of gray. I leaped forward, racing at a faster speed than before, speeding ahead. Aspenpaw and Alderpaw were getting closer, the distance between us closing, Hyperion falling behind as I streaked forward.

Then, my exhaustion caught up with me and I tripped, hitting the ground hard on my shoulder and rolling to a stop. My lungs felt like they'd been struck by lightning, charred and black. I coughed hard, my sides heaving, my eyes shut against the shudders racing through my body.

"Stop!" Hyperion called ahead to the other apprentices, who skidded to a halt. I was pleased to see they were finally out of breath, but that triumph lasted for only a single beat of my overworked heart.

Hyperion bent down, sniffing me. "Rainpaw, are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

My breaths were getting more under control. I pushed myself into a sitting position, wincing as my bruised shoulder took my body's weight again. "Yeah," I panted, "I'm okay."

Aspenpaw and Alderpaw had bounded back to us. "Rainpaw?" Alderpaw asked, his voice also pitched higher with worry.

"Were we too good for you?" Aspenpaw teased, shoving me playfully. She paused when she saw me wince again. "Are you hurt?"

"Nah, it's fine," I grunted, shifting my weight so I could shake out my injured leg. "I can deal."

"If you say so." Hyperion still looked worried, but he helped me to my feet and we set off again down the alley. "No more racing until you get out of the Twolegplace, okay?"

I grinned through gritted teeth as I limped along. "How long will that be?"

"Oh, not too long," Hyperion assured me. "You should see the last Twoleg den around tomorrow afternoon.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Hey, it's you who took a tumble, not me," Hyperion said playfully, knocking one of my hind legs out from under me. "I wasn't the one who hit my head."

"It was my shoulder," I grumbled as I recovered my balance, but grinned all the same as we neared the end of the alley. I knew Hyperion could get me thought this Twolegplace like he could teach me how to hunt. It would be no problem whatsoever.

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><p><strong>Yes, this chapter was a little shorter. Yes, I ran out of inspiration. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Sound good?<strong>

**AOTD: My favorite candy would probably be something along the lines of Swedish Fish or Smarties, though I definitely prefer things like cinnamon rolls to candy.**

**AdOTD: Um… don't procrastinate? Sorry for the lame advice. XD I wanted to do an AdOTD today but couldn't think of anything better than that.**

**QOTD: What were some of your New Years resolutions and have you broken any yet?**


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